Tame Parent box User Manual

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USER GUIDE

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Page 1: User Guide
Get your ParentBox set up more quickly by following this simple User Guide USER GUIDE © Tame Technology 2013...
Page 2: Your Parentbox
Review graphs of each day’s activity to see who’s using the • Internet most, and at what times of the day. Review graphs of the month’s activity to see how the family • as a whole is tracking against your ISP’s data plan. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 3: Table Of Contents
How you check the family’s progress for a month ......36 Reference....................39 Changing the ParentBox password ..........40 Configuring ParentBox so it can send emails ........41 Choosing which emails to send ............44 Ensuring the ParentBox clock stays accurate ........46 © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 4 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 © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 5: Getting Started
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 • © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 7: Have You Got All The Bits And Pieces
A free network socket on the back of your modem. • This Guide will refer to ‘your modem’ meaning whatever electronic box brings the Internet into your home and provides connections for computers to plug in to. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 9: Connecting The Cables
Your setup should now look similar to that shown in Figure 4 – the modem at left is connected by the yellow cable to the ParentBox, which is connected by another cable to the PC at right. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 11: Logging Into Parentbox For The First Time
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. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 13: Setting The Family's Monthly Limit
Day-to-day running of the • ParentBox on page 17 if you don’ need wireless right now. At some point you should change ParentBox’s default • password to something more secure, see Changing the ParentBox password on page 40. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 15: Turning On The Wireless
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 for the network or networks that you want to turn on. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 16 If this doesn’t work for some of your family’s computers or devices then refer to Changing the wireless encryption method on page 54. Next steps: Your ParentBox is now successfully set up! Continue on the • next page with Day-to-day running of the ParentBox. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 17: Day-To-Day Running Of The Parentbox
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 • © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 18: Adding Family Members To Parentbox
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. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 19 Internet-enabled TV, or ‘No access’ for specific devices that you don’t want using the Internet at all. Once you’ve added a new family member you cannot delete them, although you can rename them at any time. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 21: Assigning Computers To Family Members
Fortunately, ParentBox provides you with several other pieces of information that help you identify devices: MAC address, e.g. C4:88:E5:17:D1:AE or C4-88-E5-17-D1-AE • If you suspect which device is involved then you can check © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 22 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 Description text field. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 23: Setting Daily Download Limits For A Family Member
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 person icon left or right. 3. Click SAVE CHANGES when you’re done. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 24 (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. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 25 With older children you can discuss ‘responsible Internet use’ and give them a more flexible and generous limit. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 26: Setting Timeslots For A Family Member
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. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 27 When a family member is outside all their timeslots then ParentBox blocks them from accessing the Internet. They can, however, still access other computers and devices, such as media servers and printers, that are connected to the ParentBox. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 28 USER GUIDE Figure 12 ParentBox checks every 10 minutes to see whether any family members need to be blocked or unblocked. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 29: Temporarily Unblocking A Family Member
3. Click SAVE CHANGES when you’re done. The dropdown lets you choose to unblock the family member for 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours or 4 hours. During this time the family member can download any amount of data. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 31: How A Family Member Checks His Or Her Progress
Under the ‘Your times’ tab are your timeslots – green meaning times during which the Internet is on and the grey, padlocked areas meaning times during which it is off. ParentBox highlights the current day and time with a ‘NOW’ indicator. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 33 (for the current day). This provides your children with another tool for understanding how the use of different devices contributes to their total download amounts. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 35: How You Check The Family's Progress For A Day
You will find two main uses for the Daily report – finding out who in your family are the big data users, and seeing what times of the day they are most active. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 36: How You Check The Family's Progress For A Month
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. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 37 The grey, dotted line shows the ideal rate for downloading. If you were able to follow this line, then you would use up all of your monthly data allocated by your ISP on the last day of the month with none left over. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 38 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. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 39: Reference
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 • © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 40: Changing The Parentbox Password
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 your password?’ link on the login screen. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 41: Configuring Parentbox So It Can Send Emails
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 © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 42 ISP or email provider. It may simply be the same as your email address, or it may be the first part of your email address up to the ‘@’ symbol. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 43 Email screen. To help you, ParentBox displays email-related error messages on the Email screen in the ‘Errors from last email attempt’ field (bottom of Figure 20). © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 44: Choosing Which Emails To Send
The ‘email when a new device joins your network’ checkbox controls whether ParentBox notifies you when a computer or device that it has not seen before connects for the first time. When © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 45 75% of their daily download limit. Of course, you will need to provide email addresses for family members on the Family screen for ParentBox to be able to send out these emails – refer to Adding family members to ParentBox on page 18. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 46: Ensuring The Parentbox Clock Stays Accurate
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 © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 47: Using Static Or Dynamic Ip Addresses
The ParentBox is designed to run 24 x 7 – after all it is supposed to monitor and control Internet activity around the clock. But when you do switch the ParentBox off – before going on holiday, for example – you are guaranteed to lose no more than 6 hours’ worth © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 48: Understanding The Lights On The Parentbox
ParentBox backs up its working memory into permanent storage four times a day. Tame Technology recommends that you put the ParentBox somewhere out of easy reach of children’s fingers lest they make a particularly large download and then power cycle the ParentBox hoping that the details of their download will be erased.
Page 49 ParentBox. The lights may be green (indicating a fast, 1 Gbps connection) or amber (indicating a 100 or 10 Mbps connection). When the light is blinking then data is being transferred. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 50: Can't Connect To Parentbox
2. Alternatively, you can disable and re-enable just the network adapter that is connecting your computer or device to the ParentBox. In Windows 7 and 8 this means going to the Network • and Sharing Center (in the Control Panel), clicking © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 51: Adding Parentbox To A More Complex Home Network
ParentBox can be integrated into such sophisticated networks, although the user will likely have to deploy the ‘advanced controls’ (The advanced controls in ParentBox, page 53), which they must do at their own risk. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 52 Internet, but if you are running some sort of server that is meant to be accessed from the Internet then you will have the knowledge to locate the server ‘upstream’ from the © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 53: The Advanced Controls In Parentbox
The advanced screens are accessed via the ‘Administration’ link at the top of the ParentBox screen (Figure 25). The advanced screens are provided by the excellent, open source OpenWRT project on which ParentBox is built. OpenWRT’s web presence is at https://openwrt.org © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 54: Changing The Wireless Encryption Method
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. © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...
Page 55 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 © TAME TECHNOLOGY 2013...

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Parentbox