So my parents have all sorts of smart devices and I was explaining the need for a good firewall to keep them safe and protected with these devices being more frequently targeted in IOT attacks etc. I explained the PFSense firewall/router setup I was using but that seemed to be a little too advanced for them and my mum came across the BitDefender box (version 2) online and suggested that she wanted to use this.
I explained that there was no need for them to pay when they can use PFSense for free on an older PC I have kicking around but she was having none of it because she liked the fact that it would send her reports etc. on her smart phone via the app blah blah blah. even though I can have PFSense send her somewhat similar logs albeit more technical in nature without fancy graphics like BitDefender Box 2 can.
So I didn't argue much. She ordered it on sale for $139 CDN and I installed it for them yesterday. It's $99 CDN subscription per year and it comes with their Bitdefender Total Security for all your PC's and smart devices included for that fee so really it's like paying just for Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware software but getting a hardware/software fire-wall on top of that included in the subscription. First years subscription is included with the purchase of the box.
Anyway, I have to say, after setting it up for them and playing around with it, it is quite a nice unit and works extremely well. I like the notifications that show up in the app regularly to let you know what it has found and protected you against and it also speaks to all the PC's and devices via the BitDefender anti-virus software and will report back to the app if they caught anything locally on the devices as well. That was a really neat feature.
Even though it scans all traffic flowing in/out of the router it doesn't increase the ping time or slow the download/upload speed. Even when the network is heavily loaded with traffic.
I have the app on my phone so I can monitor and make changes to the firewall for them remotely so I get the notifications as well as my mum on her smart phone.
Oh and I should mention it was quite easy to open ports and setup forwards for their camera system they have as well as keep local LAN devices restricted from the internet at all times. It functions like a router as well in their case as their modem is in bridge mode and it sits between their modem and switch with the Box's wifi disabled so they can use their access point instead. The box does have strong wifi signal though in case you want to use it's wifi.
I also contacted Bitdefenders support phone number to ask some advanced questions because my parents network setup isn't typical and the folks on the phone were quite knowledgeable at answering my questions and I think I waited no more than 30 seconds from calling the number to getting someone on the phone. I also suggested some features I would like to see added to the box via the App's built in feedback feature and to my surprise I got a personalized e-mail back the next day thanking me for my suggestion and that they would look into adding it. (Such as a WAN connection up-time timed monitor and scheduled firmware updates)
I just thought I would post about it here in case anyone is in need of a quality out of the box firewall/router solution like this.
I explained that there was no need for them to pay when they can use PFSense for free on an older PC I have kicking around but she was having none of it because she liked the fact that it would send her reports etc. on her smart phone via the app blah blah blah. even though I can have PFSense send her somewhat similar logs albeit more technical in nature without fancy graphics like BitDefender Box 2 can.
So I didn't argue much. She ordered it on sale for $139 CDN and I installed it for them yesterday. It's $99 CDN subscription per year and it comes with their Bitdefender Total Security for all your PC's and smart devices included for that fee so really it's like paying just for Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware software but getting a hardware/software fire-wall on top of that included in the subscription. First years subscription is included with the purchase of the box.
Anyway, I have to say, after setting it up for them and playing around with it, it is quite a nice unit and works extremely well. I like the notifications that show up in the app regularly to let you know what it has found and protected you against and it also speaks to all the PC's and devices via the BitDefender anti-virus software and will report back to the app if they caught anything locally on the devices as well. That was a really neat feature.
Even though it scans all traffic flowing in/out of the router it doesn't increase the ping time or slow the download/upload speed. Even when the network is heavily loaded with traffic.
I have the app on my phone so I can monitor and make changes to the firewall for them remotely so I get the notifications as well as my mum on her smart phone.
Oh and I should mention it was quite easy to open ports and setup forwards for their camera system they have as well as keep local LAN devices restricted from the internet at all times. It functions like a router as well in their case as their modem is in bridge mode and it sits between their modem and switch with the Box's wifi disabled so they can use their access point instead. The box does have strong wifi signal though in case you want to use it's wifi.
I also contacted Bitdefenders support phone number to ask some advanced questions because my parents network setup isn't typical and the folks on the phone were quite knowledgeable at answering my questions and I think I waited no more than 30 seconds from calling the number to getting someone on the phone. I also suggested some features I would like to see added to the box via the App's built in feedback feature and to my surprise I got a personalized e-mail back the next day thanking me for my suggestion and that they would look into adding it. (Such as a WAN connection up-time timed monitor and scheduled firmware updates)
I just thought I would post about it here in case anyone is in need of a quality out of the box firewall/router solution like this.
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