M**D
Unreliable network connectivity
UPDATE: I bought this router in Jan 2016. To levelset, I've been in the network and security business for over 20yrs so I have a solid technical background. I researched all over looking for a good parental control device, and this one seemed to fit the bill. I plugged it in downstream of my ISP router, connected up my LAN and set the 2.4 and 5GHz SSIDs. My experience with the 5GHz on this device is that it had significant range limitations as compared to the 2.4GHz radio signal, so I chose to put all devices on 2.4 when wifi was needed. Unfortunately, I had some issues with wifi whereby it would simply drop and no devices would be able to connect through it. My ISP service was still up and I could get out to the internet, it was the blocksi that had the issue, and this would happen randomly (sometimes once a week, other times once every couple of months). Only fix was a hard reboot (power cycle) of the device. I contacted blocksi about 6mo after purchase and they troubleshot for a while and then shipped me a new unit, thinking I had a defective one. On the new one, I resetup everything the same and after about 3mos I started to experience the same issue. I again contact blocksi support who first upgraded the firmware, but that did not work as the problem reared its head again. Then support enabled logging hoping to catch some errors or some indicators of a root cause when the issue happened. Unfortunately the issue occurred again during their capture, but unfortunately it yielded no real cause. The support engineer indicated contention on the 2.4 range and suggested I move everything to 5GHz. I explained my past dismay with 5GHz (short range, etc) but moved everything over. After a year of dealing with this issue and no resolution, I've just told support I would mail back these items and have requested a refund, which I'm hopeful they will provide. Their support has been responsive, but unfortunately their product suffers in the core networking capabilities (as compared to other devices in my experience).The parental control capabilities do provide some benefit. I really liked the device shut off capability at a specific time (for my kids devices). I also like the per app time schedule (only allow netflix, minecraft, etc) for a specific duration, date, and/or time, although it didn't work well 100% of the time (sometimes is would not allow even tho my child hadn't used their device all day; and on the flip side, it would no stop a device when the limit was reached). I ended up disabling this function, but the idea is great.One other point, I still have/use the original blocksi that had the issue, and it has one lone device connected to the 2.4 wifi, and even with this one device, it still has to be rebooted as the wifi simply drops.So I'm pulling both units out, and I'm back to the drawing board for a parental control solution.=========================This router is fantastic if you are interested in more flexible parental controls. Connecting an internet pipe into your house brings along with it unintended consequences. The Blocksi router, when used properly, gives parents the visibility into their network traffic in an easy to use dashboard, and the ability to block sites/content, block all internet based on a schedule, block specific mobile device apps, safe searching, and more. No one solution is the answer to blocking and moderating all internet access, but this device can and will throttle your home internet content capabilities to meet the needs of parents.
W**K
Review UPDATE
**********New review 04/04/2019*********************I'm updating my previous review to hopefully save some people some headaches.I used this router for a little over a year, in which time I had 3 months of care free awesomeness. Then I tried to use the scheduling feature. My task was simple: Block my son from playing online games on his PS4 and other devices at scheduled times.I created some schedules and some profiles to assign devices to owners (some my son owned, some my daughter owned). Seemed simple enough. Then I found out that none of the schedules were working and my kids could do as they please.I searched for forums. User groups. Someone who had this problem. I was alone. Your only point of contact is their customer support. And you can't really call them and get anyone knowledgeable, you must submit the ol email request. So I waited, and went back and forth. Check the usual things. Turn it off/on again. etc etc. FInally I got the attention or escalation, and they set up a call with me. The customer support guy (of which I think there is only one) was very nice but alas, could not do anything for my problem and sent the issue to his engineers.They could do nothing, and could only fix the issue with my PCs/laptops, but could never resolve the issue of blocking anything on the PS4.To make a long story short, this device is now outdated, and I don't believe they have the bandwidth or manpower to create new products, engage with customers, offer customer support or like...anything that modern companies now do. They do their best to hide behind their website and limited contact options. There are now plenty of *mesh* routers that do exactly what this router does with no *subscription fee*. After all my troubles, they could not reset my account to defaults, or even reset the hardware to defaults (as I was told this is all tied to my account in the cloud and there's no way to reset it). So I eventually threw this thing in a bag, threw the bag in the trash, and put a lid on the can so that no one would dig it out and try to use this thing. It's worth noting that I work in IT debugging hardware and software on a daily basis, and could still not get anywhere with this.If you want parental control router that works flawlessly, Try Google Wifi. It doesn't have the same advertised granularity, but at least you can trust it to do its job.**********Old Review from 2017 below****************This router is more powerful than my old Netgear router, which surprised me, but I'm sure it's because of the external antennas. So wifi coverage is very good. It seems overly complicated with both high and low speed networks for each account (parent and kids) giving you 4 separate networks, but you do have the ability to turn them off. Customization is decent, and it allows you to port-forward.I can't really review the scheduling features as I haven't set that up yet, but all the options i was looking for seem to be there.
Trustpilot
3 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
