Every router provides a different set of advanced configurations. Of course it is impossible to cover all options found on all routers available on the market. So we decided to list the most interesting advanced options that are available on the majority of wireless broadband routers available in the market with some examples on when you should use them. In our examples we will continue using our D-Link DI-524 router.

• Blocking Internet access based on time and weekday: This is a very interesting configuration for both home and office users. Home user may allow their children to access the Internet only during a certain timeframe during weekdays (e.g. from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM) and free Internet access during weekends. Office users may want to block their employees from using the Internet in certain times, for any reason. On our router this configuration was done clicking on Advanced, Filters, selecting “IP Filters”. Then we needed to configure the IP addresses of the computers we wanted to block (entering * would block all computers) and the port range (i.e. the kind of service like web, e-mail, FTP, enter * for all services). Then we needed to select “From” and set the days of the week and hour range the Internet would be disabled for the computers we listed. You could configure several different weekday/time configurations at the same time.

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Figure 22: Blocking Internet access based on time and weekday.

• Blocking access to certain websites: You can block your children or employees from having access to certain websites. In our example this would be done on the same screen above but selecting “domain blocking”. Additionally our router has a feature of blocking certain websites based on keywords (e.g. “porn”). This would be configured on the same screen above but selecting “URL blocking”. You can also configure the reverse of what we are saying, i.e. allow users to access only the websites we configured and blocking all other websites.
• Configuring on-line games and applications to have access to non-standard ports: The router firewall will block any connection to non-standard ports. However, some programs, especially games with on-line playing capability, Voice over IP and P2P file sharing programs use non-standard ports and thus they won’t work because your router will block them. What you will need to do is to “open” the ports used by this kind of program. You will need to know the ports used by TCP and UDP protocols and configure them. This information is listed on the game manual or on the program documentation. On our router this would be configured at Advanced, Application, as shown on Figure 23. Learn more about this reading our How To Make P2P Programs to Work on Networks Using a Broadband Router tutorial.

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Figure 23: Allowing programs to have access to non-standard ports.

• Remote management: You can enable your router to allow people outside your network to have access to the router control panel. This option should be always disabled, but there is one situation it may be very interesting: if you are the person in charge of the network configuration and want to have access to the router from outside the network. Several technicians use this feature to configure their client’s network without needing to physically going to the client’s office. In order to increase security you can even allow remote management only from a given IP address, which could be your home IP address, so nobody else could have access to your router control panel login screen. On our router this is configured at Tools, Admin, under Remote Management field. If you are not going to use this feature please set it as “disable” to avoid hackers trying to have access to the control panel from your router.

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Figure 24: Remote management.

There are several other features that can be interesting depending on your situation and we only listed above the most common and the ones we think are the most useful for the regular user. Don’t be afraid of exploring your router control panel to learn all options it has. Maybe you will find an interesting option that may be useful for you specific situation.