What is Family-Friendly Internet?

Whenever you request a website, our nameservers check the name against a list of known phishing and/or pornographic websites. If the name is on the list, we redirect you to a page explaining what happened.

Will it protect my kids from everything bad on the internet?

No, it's not perfect. New "bad" sites pop up every day. We don't block sites like YouTube or MySpace, which may have objectionable content. You, the parent, are the best internet filter available. Please monitor your children's use of the internet.

Which sites are blocked?

Go to http://www.opendns.com/support/checker and type in the website you're interested in. If it's tagged as "pornography", "sexuality", "tasteless", "phishing", or "proxy/anonymizer", it's blocked.

My kids download music all the time. Is that OK?

Most music is copyrighted, which should only be downloaded from paid subscription websites. File-sharing programs like Kazaa, Limewire, etc. contain an upload feature where other users can upload music from your computer. Prosecutors are going after people who share copyrighted files with others. Our Service Agreement requires you to disable the upload (file-sharing) feature on all file-sharing programs.

My computer/connection is slow!

Got Windows? Redmond's latest attempt to make our lives easier needs a little tweak:
-Click on the wifi icon in the lower right corner and click once on the wifi connection you're using.
-A "Properties" link should appear. Click on it, and slide "Metered Connection" to the ON position.
-Windows will now ask you before it hogs your connection with a huge update.

Your smartphones, tablets, and gaming boxes also have huge updates that seem to download at the worst possible time. If you're constantly buffering in the middle of your favorite show, start shutting down all your other internet-connected devices until things improve.

Your wifi router could also be the problem. Some models have a "QoS" setting or "WMM" settings. Those should all be off.

If you're more than 30' away from your wifi router, or going through walls or fireplaces, you might try moving your router closer to your devices or vice versa. If you need more coverage area, mesh routers are the latest and greatest solution. We don't recommend wifi extenders, and they can actually clog up the wifi band.

Another possibility is that a virus or spyware is doing something nasty. Try running a scan from your virus program. The built-in Windows Defender should keep you reasonably safe. Most third-party anti-virus programs will slow your computer down, so consider the cost of that additional protection.