Tame Parent box User Manual Download

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Get your ParentBox set

up more quickly by

following this simple User

Guide

USER GUIDE

Summary of Contents for Parent box

Page 1: ...Get your ParentBox set up more quickly by following this simple User Guide USER GUIDE Tame Technology 2013 ...

Page 2: ...oing to plug it in and set it up so that you can Give each member of your family their own customised daily quota for downloads Set time limits for each of the children so there s no Internet after bedtime Once you ve done those things you can sit back while ParentBox monitors Internet usage and collects statistics Next week you can Review graphs of each day s activity to see who s using the Inter...

Page 3: ...ntBox 18 Assigning computers to family members 21 Setting daily download limits for a family member 23 Setting timeslots for a family member 26 Temporarily unblocking a family member 29 How a family member checks his or her progress 31 How you check the family s progress for a day 35 How you check the family s progress for a month 36 Reference 39 Changing the ParentBox password 40 Configuring Pare...

Page 4: ...ic IP addresses 47 Switching the ParentBox off 47 Understanding the lights on the ParentBox 48 Can t connect to ParentBox 50 Adding ParentBox to a more complex home network 51 The advanced controls in ParentBox 53 Changing the wireless encryption method 54 ...

Page 5: ...OGY 2013 5 USER GUIDE Getting started In this section Have you got all the bits and pieces Connecting the cables Connecting to ParentBox for the first time Setting the family s monthly limit Turning on the wireless ...

Page 6: ...6 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 1 Figure 2 ...

Page 7: ...ParentBox unit on end You will also need A PC for configuring the ParentBox Actually a Mac or any kind of computer as long as you can plug a network cable into it can be used This Guide will refer simply to your PC to save space A network cable to connect your PC to the ParentBox A free network socket on the back of your modem This Guide will refer to your modem meaning whatever electronic box bri...

Page 8: ...8 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 3 Figure 4 ...

Page 9: ...lugs into the same kind of socket that your computers plug in to At the ParentBox end it plugs into the yellow socket Figure 2 4 Connect the ParentBox to the mains using the power supply unit and turn the ParentBox on 5 Wait approximately 60 seconds until the power light on the ParentBox Figure 3 is a steady green 6 Connect your PC to the ParentBox using a network cable not supplied and turn your ...

Page 10: ...10 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 5 ...

Page 11: ...r PC and type http parentbox into the address bar 2 After a second or two you should see the screen shown in Figure 5 In Figure 5 the fuel gauge shows how much of your daily download is left and the horizontal traffic lights shows whether you are currently in a timeslot or not Next you should enter details of your ISP s data plan as described over the page If you don t see this screen refer to Can...

Page 12: ...12 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 6 ...

Page 13: ... to see the screen shown in Figure 6 5 In the text field enter the number of gigabytes GB that you are allowed to download in a billing cycle by your ISP without being traffic shaped or having to purchase additional data blocks 6 In the dropdown select the day of the month on which new billing cycles start 7 Click the blue SAVE CHANGES button Next steps Switch on the ParentBox s wireless network n...

Page 14: ...14 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 7 ...

Page 15: ...evices especially older devices The 2 4 GHz band often has better range particularly through house walls The 5 0 GHz band is less congested and may give you better speeds Your ParentBox comes with both wireless networks switched off but you can switch either or both on 1 Log in to ParentBox if you re not already logged in and click the Setup tab followed by the Wifi tab 2 Change the radio button f...

Page 16: ... and causing interference 6 Optionally change the wireless transmission power You might increase this value to extend the range of your wireless network You might decrease this value to reduce the interference you cause to your neighbour s network 7 Click the blue SAVE CHANGES button Note ParentBox is preconfigured to use WPA2 PSK security for the wireless network If this doesn t work for some of ...

Page 17: ...ParentBox Assigning computers to family members Setting daily download limits for a family member Setting timeslots for a family member Temporarily unblocking a family member How a family member checks his or her progress How you check the family s progress for a day How you check the family s progress for a month ...

Page 18: ...daily download limits and daily timeslots to your family members Before you allocate limits however you must enter the names of your family members into ParentBox using the Family screen under the ParentBox tab Figure 8 1 Log in to ParentBox if you re not already logged in and click the ParentBox tab followed by the Family tab ...

Page 19: ...f you want them to receive emails telling them when they ve exceeded 75 of their allocation refer also to Choosing which emails to send on page 44 The family member named Unknown is special This family member is created automatically cannot be renamed and is the family member to which new computers are automatically assigned until you re assign them to someone As with the Unknown family member not...

Page 20: ...20 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 9 ...

Page 21: ...uters that have not connected for some time will show a delete checkbox Check the checkbox if you want to delete the computer 4 Click SAVE CHANGES when you re done Assuming that you will have a number of computers and devices using your home network ParentBox does its best to help you figure out which computer or device is which Figuring out which computer is which Most of the time it should be ob...

Page 22: ...ddress e g 192 168 5 123 As with the MAC address if you suspect which device is involved then the device should be able to confirm what IP address it is using on an About or Properties screen Recent activity ParentBox shows you to within 10 minutes how recently the device tried to access the Internet Description ParentBox tries to guess the type of the device and display its guess in the Descripti...

Page 23: ... If you have not already configured ParentBox with your monthly download limit set by your ISP then you should go and do this now otherwise the numbers displayed on the Amounts screen may be misleading Refer to Setting the family s monthly limit on page 13 1 Log in to ParentBox if you re not already logged in and click the ParentBox tab followed by the Amounts tab 2 For each family member drag the...

Page 24: ... at all Dragging to the far right gives them unlimited downloads although they are still subject to the timeslots you set for them Setting timeslots for a family member page 26 You can also use the dropdown to quickly select a preset value The person icon on the TOTAL horizontal bar is driven by the other bars you cannot drag that icon ...

Page 25: ...This time you give family member more generous daily limits so that the TOTAL displayed is 2 day s worth or more Now assuming most family members have days of light Internet use as well as days of heavy use you should still not run out of downloads before the end of the month The Monthly report How you check the family s progress for a month on page 36 is designed to help you monitor and adjust yo...

Page 26: ...and the timeslots for the first family member The full screen would include timeslots for all family members and a SAVE CHANGES button at the bottom 1 Log in to ParentBox if you re not already logged in and click the ParentBox tab followed by the Times tab 2 For each family member listed click on the red and green boxes to toggle them on and off 3 Click SAVE CHANGES when you re done ...

Page 27: ...p you can for example click on Sunday to toggle all Sunday s blocks on or off and you can click on 10 in the morning to toggle that column on or off In Figure 11 Emily can access the Internet between 7AM and 9PM each day except Wednesday Since there is no school on Saturday she gets an additional 3 hours on Friday night When a family member is outside all their timeslots then ParentBox blocks them...

Page 28: ...28 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 12 ParentBox checks every 10 minutes to see whether any family members need to be blocked or unblocked ...

Page 29: ...Box tab provides a way to temporarily suspend a limit and unblock the family member Figure 12 1 Log in to ParentBox if you re not already logged in and click the ParentBox tab followed by the Blocks tab 2 For any family member listed as blocked make a choice from the dropdown 3 Click SAVE CHANGES when you re done The dropdown lets you choose to unblock the family member for 30 minutes 1 hour 2 hou...

Page 30: ...30 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 13 ...

Page 31: ...oad limit is left both as an absolute amount 264 MB in this example and as a relative amount from full to empty The horizontal traffic lights tell you about your timeslots If the leftmost green light is on then your Internet is currently on If the middle amber light comes on then your Internet is on right now but will be switching off within 15 minutes If the rightmost red light is on then your In...

Page 32: ...32 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 14 Figure 15 ...

Page 33: ...on of their limit as described in Temporarily unblocking a family member on page 29 The Your amounts tab provides your children with a perfect tool for learning how different kinds of use of the Internet watching videos or using Facebook for instance use up different amounts of download Your computers Under the Your computers tab Figure 15 is a list of all the computers and other devices assigned ...

Page 34: ...34 TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013 USER GUIDE Figure 16 ...

Page 35: ...tons you can click backwards and forwards through the available data Along the bottom the graph shows the hours of the day from midnight to midnight The height of each bar shows the total amount downloaded during a given hour The colours in the bars are the same colours that you assigned to each family member on the Family screen Adding family members to ParentBox on page 18 If you wish to focus o...

Page 36: ... s progress for a month The Monthly report under the Reports tab Figure 17 shows a month s worth of data at a time The purpose of this graph is to help you manage your monthly data allocation from your ISP and to stop your family from running out of data before month end ...

Page 37: ...r new allocation starts Figure 17 shows how your Monthly report looks when you are close to halfway through the month Between the start of June and today you are seeing actual data Between today and the end of June you are seeing predicted data extrapolated from the actual data The bold dashed line shows what will happen if your family continues downloading at the same rate that they ve been downl...

Page 38: ...8 In Figure 17 it looked as if our family is going to come in slightly below target with about 15 1 GB of data left over In Figure 18 which shows what happened 2 months previously our family went over target slightly before the end of the month ...

Page 39: ...entBox password Configuring ParentBox so that it can send emails Choosing which emails to send Ensure the ParentBox clock stays accurate What the lights mean Static and dynamic IP addresses If a computer has trouble connecting Switching the ParentBox off Adding ParentBox to a more complex home network The advanced controls in ParentBox ...

Page 40: ...g in to ParentBox if you re not already logged in and click the tab Setup and then the tab Password 2 Enter your new password once in each textbox Figure 19 Note that passwords must be at least 8 characters in length There is a way to recover a lost password If you have configured ParentBox so that it can send emails Configuring ParentBox so it can send emails page 41 then simply click the Forgot ...

Page 41: ...nt your ParentBox to send you alerts when your family members are blocked or unblocked alerts when a new computer joins your network and an email to help you in the event that you forget your ParentBox password In order to configure email you need to provide ParentBox with enough information for it to send emails on your behalf If you have ...

Page 42: ...mail Outlook com smtp gmail com Google Mail Gmail smtp aol com Aol mail gmx com GMX 3 In the Port number text field enter the port number that goes with the IP address or hostname text field When your ISP or email provider doesn t require you to authenticate provide a password before you send an email then the port number is invariably 25 When your ISP or email provider does require authentication...

Page 43: ...d above You may now wish to test that ParentBox can indeed send emails A simple way to do this is to click the Forgot your password link on the login screen This will cause ParentBox to send an email to the address you specified in Step 6 above If you have waited at least 15 minutes for an email and none has arrived then there may be a problem with the values you entered in the Email screen To hel...

Page 44: ... every time a family member is blocked or unblocked from the Internet You may want these emails at the beginning to be sure that the ParentBox is working as you intend However over time these emails can become quite numerous and you may wish to turn them off The email when a new device joins your network checkbox controls whether ParentBox notifies you when a computer or device that it has not see...

Page 45: ... be assigned to a real family member It is also possible that a new device joining your network does not belong to you or your family in which case it is certainly worthwhile receiving the email Remember that new devices are automatically assigned to the Unknown family member so you may wish to give this user a very small daily allocation or to limit their timeslots The email when they exceed 75 c...

Page 46: ...nchronised to your local time zone so that when you tell ParentBox to turn your child s Internet off at 10PM then ParentBox does so at 10PM Your ParentBox was made in Melbourne so it comes preconfigured for the correct time in Melbourne Victoria If you don t live in Victoria then you should change the time zone by choosing ...

Page 47: ...o connect to a network ParentBox does not work with devices that use static IP addresses A dynamic IP address is where a device negotiates an IP address when it connects to a network ParentBox needs all connected devices to be using dynamic IP addresses Fortunately most new devices come preconfigured to use dynamic IP addresses Some devices call this DHCP If you have reconfigured your computer or ...

Page 48: ...nload and then power cycle the ParentBox hoping that the details of their download will be erased As a deterrent as long as you have set up email Configuring ParentBox so it can send emails on page 41 ParentBox will send you an alert to tell you that it was turned off and back on again Figure 23 Understanding the lights on the ParentBox Your ParentBox has nine LEDs on the front Sometimes knowing w...

Page 49: ...less light will be blue when the 5 GHz wireless is turned on and blink when it is being used 4 The Internet light will be orange when your ParentBox has managed to establish a connection to your modem via the yellow cable described in Connecting the cables on page 9 If this light is off then no one using your ParentBox will be able to access the Internet and your ParentBox will not be able to send...

Page 50: ...sing to http parentbox results in the screen shown in Figure 24 then follow one or other of the three procedures described next 1 The simplest and most reliable solution is to turn your computer or device off and then back on again This will reset the network connection between your computer or device and ParentBox and you should then be able to access ParentBox normally 2 Alternatively you can di...

Page 51: ...en click the Renew DHCP Lease button ii If you re using wireless then you can turn it off and on again 3 Finally you can just wait for up to 30 minutes after which time your problematic computer or device should have registered itself with ParentBox Adding ParentBox to a more complex home network There are many different ways in which you can organise your home network The more knowledgeable may b...

Page 52: ...econd point is that computers and devices monitored and controlled by the ParentBox should have few problems connecting to other computers or printers connected between the ParentBox and the Internet The reverse is not true however so other computers connected between the ParentBox and the Internet are likely to have difficulty locating and connecting to computers and devices monitored by the Pare...

Page 53: ...ections of this User Guide every ParentBox screen has been described However in addition to the ParentBox screens there are numerous screens that the more adventurous and knowledgeable users may wish to access Please be aware however that you use these advanced screens at your own risk as you could cause the ParentBox to stop functioning The advanced screens are accessed via the Administration lin...

Page 54: ...15 ParentBox is preconfigured to use the WPA2 PSK security for its wireless networks If this type of security is not appropriate for your home network then you can change it by following the instructions below 1 Log in to ParentBox and click the Administration link at the very top of the screen 2 Select the Network tab then the Wifi tab ...

Page 55: ...the 2 GHz band or the 5 GHz band 4 In the lower half of the screen select the Wireless Security tab refer to Figure 26 5 Select your desired value from the Encryption dropdown Depending on your selection you may have to enter one or more keys 6 Finally click the Save Apply button For further support go to http parentbox com au ...

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