topic Re: Parental Control Block List Details in Broadband & Landline

Parental Control Block List Details

Ben570 — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 09:15:35 GMT

Hi community,

I recently upgraded to Full Fibre with the new Smart Hub and have setup parental controls on our home network. I have created a group in the app to contain my kids devices and tried out the various parental control levels including "moderate" and "strict". Both of these levels contain the categories porn and nudity so such sites should be blocked. However, I am finding that well-known adult sites aren't blocked at all. In fact there's only one website I can get the EE "Access to this website has been blocked" page on and the site isn't even a proper adult site, it's just a fringe art site (DeviantArt for those that know). Pornography sites like PH simply don't get blocked. I have queried this with EE and the first guide blamed the hub and so sent me a new one which exhibits exactly the same behaviour of blocking next to nothing, and I don't believe the block list would be hardcoded to the hub, it's more likely they're using a centralised proxy, web filter, or DNS system to block sites.
So my question to the community is has anyone got information or references as to what websites are blocked by the parental control categories? Because it seems to me it's hardly blocking anything at all, at least when it comes to adult sites.

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

JimM11 — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 10:10:21 GMT

@Ben570 Not sure if you have looked at this, but link to the parental controls help. You may have to do this also.

Block or unblock various types of websites as well as specific websites

Using Parental Controls on EE | Broadband Help | EE

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

Ben570 — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 11:55:26 GMT

Thanks @JimM11 but yes I have read through the setup documentation and know that the parental controls are enabled and set to strict for the device group I am targeting. My point is that even with them enabled, they are not blocking common adult websites (other categories like gaming are blocking xbox live and so on so I know they work to some degree). What I am looking for is details on what sites EE actually block under the porn and nudity categories that are discussed in the article you linked under the "Block or unblock various types of websites" section because if my service is anything to go by, they aren't blocking much at all and customers shouldn't be expected to manually input each and every common adult site into their own hub block list. The parental controls are sold as a managed service with category selection, it would be nice to know or at least get examples of what sites they are actually blocking.

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

JimM11 — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 14:15:12 GMT

@Ben570 As you see there is not much in the way of documentation surrounding the parental controls app, should one of the EE Support team see the post, they may respond with some other detail. If not then you could tag them yourself to possibly draw there attention to your request. HTH

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

Neil-O — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 14:34:30 GMT

Hi, @Ben570 I'm sorry those adult sites are not being blocked, they most definitely wouldn't on the allowed list. Is this happening on all devices?

Are you using an iPhone or iPad with the private wifi address or private relay settings enabled as this can cause problems?

Thanks

Neil

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

Ben570 — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 09:52:59 GMT

@Neil-O Yes this is happening on all devices. I have tested on Windows laptops and iPhones with private relay turned off. I have also made sure that DNS over HTTPS is not enabled in the browsers I am using. This product does not work as advertised and I am concerned that parents have a false sense of security with it while their children and families are not protected. I have raised two complaints with EE and the Guides say "oh yes a fix will be deployed in a few days" and then a few days later I get the automated complaint closure text with a number to reach out on that's impossible to speak to anyone on. This is not acceptable service from EE, they are appealing to the fears of parents in selling this service then not providing the protection at all or trying to fix it. Shameless!

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

Ben570 — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 09:56:33 GMT

@Neil-O To rub salt into the wound so to speak, the Smart Hub does not allow you change the DNS settings, the DNS servers are hard-coded. This makes the product less useful and currently offering less protection than if I was able to change the DNS provider to something like OpenDNS FamilyShield!

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

charlienormand — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 07:16:55 GMT

Did you get any further with this? I’m about to receive EE broadband having used open DNS until now on a personal router. Is it possible to use a personal router with EE fibre in between the fibre and the WiFi hub? Today I’m using openwrt with firewall rules to block anything other than opendns ip dns traffic, that doesn’t sound like a setup that will work with EE? And given what you have said that would be a massive regression. Thanks

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

JimM11 — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 07:45:59 GMT

@charlienormand What router are you using currently for your openwrt, and to which service do you intend to connect to, fttc or fttp, is your router directly connected currently to the line, if so then continue to use, and apply the 3rd party settings. See attached.

Getting Started with EE Broadband | Broadband Help | EE

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

XRaySpeX — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 11:16:30 GMT

@charlienormand : If you intend having DV the EE SH+ must be the 1st router connected to the ONT. Otherwise you may use your own router.

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

charlienormand — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 11:26:25 GMT

Currently on community fibre, they have fibre -> Ethernet box, it issues WAN IP to WAN Ethernet port on an old BT home hub (flashed with openwrt). I also have a TP-Link Next-Gen Wi-Fi 6 AX1800 at the end of built in Ethernet in the house that extends range the old way. But that could be promoted to next to the fibre and things swapped.

Didn’t order DV, don’t need it, so let’s see, I’m trying to research if my kit has VSDL, as per https://ee.co.uk/help/broadband/getting-started/using-and-configuring-a-third-party-router

However, as Ben was stating, would be good if the blocking service was effective and techy teenager proof, as advertised, cutting off devices via the app seemed like a useful feature, but not at the expense of decent filtering.

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

XRaySpeX — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 12:05:28 GMT

@charlienormand wrote:

I’m trying to research if my kit has VSDL

Show us the router stats of the BT HH & we should be able to tell you.

What does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker estimate for your phone number? Post just the whole table and the line above it, blanking out your phone number. If it doesn't recognise your phone number or you don't have one, use the Address Checker.

Re: Parental Control Block List Details

charlienormand — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 21:20:19 GMT

So it was all a bit longer for the new broadband to arrive than I realized, but it is now setup and running the Smart Hub Plus. After I realised that the instructions are terrible - the controls are on the EE app (not the EE Home app) and not on the internal web page of the router (192.168.1.254), in the app I activated Advanced Web Protect and Safe Search. (the first two obvious settings), and they had no effect on filtering.

But after googling parental controls and seeing that creating a group to apply parental controls was involved, finding the (not as it says) groups menu was the next challenge, as it wasn't where it was implied. But by first selecting 'Add Schedule' to a device, I was then prompted to create my first device group I called 'Everything'. Then new devices after that joined the wifi went into 'Ungrouped devices'. Now both groups have the Moderate filter on, and all the porn sites mentioned in this thread are blocked which is great.

Additionally although you can't change the DNS settings the router uses from the internet to a different service like OpenDNS, even if a device force changes its DNS settings off the router, to Google 8.8.8.8 for example, for itself, it does not bypass the filtering, any traffic going through the router directly is still filtered. The only route that avoids the filters is the use of VPN clients by a device on the network, The 'Change blocked sites' categories does not have VPN as a category of blocking 'area', which perhaps EE can improve on, because OpenDNS does. However I may be able to force VPN connections to be blocked by the firewall if I can isolate the outbound ports used.

But for me, so far so good, without having to revert to some OpenDNS multi devices in the chain alternative.