Paid DNS for Home

Looking for a paid DNS service (AU based probably) that can disable/enable specific sites or control the traffic.
I tried Pi Hole and ADGuard DNS - but the Raspberry Pi solution isn't very reliable - so looking for some service providers.

One situation could be: YouTube, so I want to block youtube so no one in the house can watch it (Over Wifi)

Comments

  • +8

    Give https://nextdns.io/ a go. It works really well

    Keep in mind most users will be able to work around a DNS block fairly easily.

    • IP given are outside AU? Ping results
      Minimum = 19ms, Maximum = 119ms, Average = 65ms

      • I think they have anycast on their DNS IP addresses. The 2 IPs given 45.90.28.23 & 45.90.30.23 are in Sydney from my home nbn connection.

      • +2

        NextDNS IP = Minimum = 8ms, Maximum = 10ms, Average = 9ms
        1.1.1.1 = Minimum = 8ms, Maximum = 10ms, Average = 9ms
        8.8.8.8 = Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 10ms, Average = 9ms

        My results on Exetel NBN

        • 45.90.30.23 = Minimum = 187ms, Maximum = 195ms, Average = 189ms
          45.90.28.23 = Minimum = 20ms, Maximum = 21ms, Average = 20ms
          8.8.8.8 = Minimum = 5ms, Maximum = 8ms, Average = 6ms
          1.1.1.1 = Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 17ms, Average = 9ms

          Telstra FTTP here. šŸ¤

          • @b0nd: Using Telstra NBN (HFC)

            Pinging 45.90.28.23 with 32 bytes of data:
            Reply from 45.90.28.23: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=53
            Reply from 45.90.28.23: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=53
            Reply from 45.90.28.23: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=53
            Reply from 45.90.28.23: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=53
            Minimum = 10ms, Maximum = 11ms, Average = 10ms

            Pinging 45.90.30.23 with 32 bytes of data:
            Reply from 45.90.30.23: bytes=32 time=165ms TTL=50
            Reply from 45.90.30.23: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
            Reply from 45.90.30.23: bytes=32 time=164ms TTL=50
            Reply from 45.90.30.23: bytes=32 time=158ms TTL=50
            Minimum = 158ms, Maximum = 171ms, Average = 164ms

          • @b0nd: Using TPG business internet (wifi)

            Pinging 45.90.28.23 with 32 bytes of data:
            Reply from 45.90.28.23: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=55
            Reply from 45.90.28.23: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=55
            Reply from 45.90.28.23: bytes=32 time=29ms TTL=55
            Reply from 45.90.28.23: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=55
            Minimum = 12ms, Maximum = 29ms, Average = 19ms

            Pinging 45.90.30.23 with 32 bytes of data:
            Reply from 45.90.30.23: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=55
            Reply from 45.90.30.23: bytes=32 time=178ms TTL=55
            Reply from 45.90.30.23: bytes=32 time=183ms TTL=55
            Reply from 45.90.30.23: bytes=32 time=170ms TTL=55
            Minimum = 170ms, Maximum = 183ms, Average = 176ms

            High latency isn't limited to Telstra

            • @AwesomeAndrew: hmm, yeah. I guess, local servers would be better option over anycast?

        • Minimum = 11ms, Maximum = 67ms, Average = 26ms
          Minimum = 13ms, Maximum = 66ms, Average = 32ms
          Minimum = 11ms, Maximum = 42ms, Average = 29ms
          Minimum = 12ms, Maximum = 22ms, Average = 16ms

          ping'd 45.90.28.23 on More NBN via WiFi

          Minimum = 39ms, Maximum = 81ms, Average = 57ms
          Minimum = 23ms, Maximum = 36ms, Average = 29ms
          Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss)
          Minimum = 30ms, Maximum = 45ms, Average = 37ms
          Minimum = 50ms, Maximum = 107ms, Average = 76ms

          ping'd 45.90.30.23 on More NBN via WiFi

          Minimum = 26ms, Maximum = 71ms, Average = 41ms
          Minimum = 11ms, Maximum = 27ms, Average = 17ms
          Minimum = 16ms, Maximum = 47ms, Average = 29ms

          ping'd 1.1.1.1 on More NBN via WiFi

          this thread pingas

  • +9

    Blacklisting in your router. You donā€™t need a paid DNS server for this.

    Also DNS blocking is virtually pointless and is probably the easiest to work around.

    • +1

      Agree, depending on the router, could be under ā€œparental controlā€.

      • Thanks!! I should have mentioned - I'm after ad filtering and monitoring too. Router has limited capabilities.

        • Time for an advancedTomato router methinks? :-)

        • Routerā€™s firewall + PiHole can already do that.

    • I have Google Nest. I love it but there is no Blacklisting option. DNS is the only way for us Nesters!

  • +1

    Havenā€™t tried it yet, but one Iā€™ve had my eye on is Control D

  • Another option is to host pihole in Oracle Cloud free tier.

    https://www.floydimus.prismo.net/work/hostsv2

    I used to do that for adblocking on my mobile devices but have since switched to NextDNS

  • +8

    I blocked youtube at home at the router, my older kid found a way around this by connecting to a VPN, not sure to be angry or proud.

  • +3

    DNS blocking is the easiest type of blocking to circumvent.

    Most modern browsers (Chrome, Edge etc) do it for you now as they usually use DNS-over-HTTPS which completely circumvents any regular DNS server.

    Come to think of it, our government must hate it, as it has circumvented millions of dollars they spent on making ISPs block websites at the DNS level. (Which personally I find quite funny)

    Anyway, my point is that you probably want to setup filters at the device level where possible and not solely rely on DNS

  • +2

    The kids will just hotspot their phones and cost ya more in data :P

  • +3

    Curios to know what your experience is with Pi-hole. What about it made it unreliable? I use it and it works exactly how its intended.

  • i can't understand why pi hole wouldn't work. or, if it allows, you just run dnsmasq on your router and make it return NXDOMAIN for certain domains

    it's going to be hard to block a domain from a determined person, since they can simply configure their dns settings to use another dns server rather than the default one for your lan

  • +1

    Raspberry Pi solution isn't very reliable

    it's pretty damn reliable, both for PiHole and Adguard.

    run two if you want more reliability.

    • +1

      I too read that comment with a confused look on my face.

      OP should elaborate on that a little.

  • +1

    Did you try AdGuard Home or AdGuard DNS?

  • +1

    Get a DD-WRT or OpenWRT compatible router and install the firmware. Local control, no ongoing fees

  • +1

    OpenDNS

    • OpenDNS is free and should achieve what you are trying to do.

      If your kids get smart and manually change the DNS on their device, you will have to consider a router that runs something like OpenWRT or DD-WRT (my preferred choice) that has options to force routing of all DNS queries on port 53 to OpenDNS. The tricky part now is apps like TikTok and some web browsers are using DNS over HTTPS, which requires further firewall instructions to block (which I have yet to implement).

      Personally, I am running Pi-hole in a docker container on my media server pc which uses OpenDNS to resolve external queries. My router also runs dd-wrt firmware.

  • +1

    PiHole on a cheap VPS.
    That is what I do.

    • PiHole on Oracle Free Tier that's what ozbargain will do.

  • One situation could be: YouTube, so I want to block youtube so no one in the house can watch it (Over Wifi

    I do exactly this with Pihole on a Raspberry Pi 1 (running Dietpi) to block Youtube and Pinterest for the kids devices when they spend too much time on it. Have their MAC addresses in a group I can turn on and off when needed (and secure DNS disabled in the browser).

    What is it you find unreliable with Pihole?

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