D-Link DSD-150 SecureSpot Internet Security Adapter

Product Details

Product Reviews

(4 stars) - Works as advertised (after painful setup process)
I've been eyeing this device purely for the parental controls for the last 2-3 years, but I finally laid down the cash to pick one up a couple of weeks ago when my daughter got an iPod Touch. At that point I decided that the PC-based parental controls were no longer sufficient since I wouldn't be able to filter any new non-PC devices on the network with them.

Anyway, I ordered the DSD-150 and expected to just plug it into the network and configure it. I've read other users complain about the setup process, but I didn't think that would really apply to me because of my networking background. I won't go into the trouble-shooting details; except to say that it took several hours a day over a 3 day period to finally get this device working. I probably spent 5-6 hours on the phone with the bsecure support people and I have to admit that they have great tech support (no wait times and very knowledgeable people based in Florida). It was due to their help that I was finally able to get this working.

As far as the functionality goes, this device does exactly what they advertise. I have it configured to use just the parental controls, parental reporting, and firewall - and I've been impressed with the parental control feature. It has over 80 different categories that you can either allow or block, and there is a parental override password if you need to get to something that is blocked. If someone tries to access blocked content, you can configure it to send you an e-mail or a text to let you know what was tried. The great thing about a hardware filter is that I can lock it in my wiring closet and be sure that everything in the house is automatically filtered!

It may seem like I'm rating the DSD-150 kind of high based on the install problems I had, but I'm basing that on the bsecure tech support as well as the functionality of the device once it was configured. I would have given it 5 stars if it weren't for the setup issues.


For people who are using AT&T uVerse for their Internet, here is the solution to my problem: it turns out the DSD-150 would not connect when using a non-routable/local subnet DNS address. I use the AT&T uVerse service and it gives my router a routable IP address and gateway with the non-routable address of the uVerse box as a DNS server. The solution was to configure the device with all static IP info, even though I get a dynamic address from my ISP (AT&T) - now I'll have to update the DSD-150 configuration every time I get a new IP address (but thankfully that isn't very often according my dyndns logs).

One more helpful tip that isn't documented for the DSD-150, is that the configuration IP address is [...]. The username is admin and the default password is blank (although both those can be changed).

(5 stars) - Great to protects whole network
I have 9 computers in a den that kids are on all the time. The fear is that when they figure out how easy it is to find adult content, Pandora will forever be out of the box. Installing parental controls on 9 computers would be expensive and time consuming.
Some reviews criticize the thin client software: well then forget it. As an appliance that protects your whole network, including wireless Nintendo DSi browsers, Wii browsing, netbooks and wired boxes, this product is tremendous. I've worried for years about what I'd do when they figure out that a few letters in a search engine results in adult content. This product completely took that worry away from me.
This product is their old version to implement Securespot. D-Link's Securespot version 2.0 works in the firmware of this product if you update it and D-Link routers but ONLY on 3 models. The DIR 625, 628 or 655. They are reasonably priced too.
You can pick from many categories of sites to prohibit. In addition to porn, you can block hate sites, piracy sites, hacker sites etc.
This is not a comprehensive big brother product like netnanny. You only get emails about attempts to get to prohibited content and no protection from kids behavior in email or messaging. But to act as a blacklist filter for your kids from the millions of sites that you would prohibit, it's the only product on the market that does this.
Installation was a little bit of a pain but D-Link is the only parental "whole network" appliance or router supplier out there. I wish they all (Linksys, Netgear etc.) offered this but they don't.

(1 stars) - Too good to be true
Well as they say, if it sounds to good to be true, then it probably isn't. They say it doesn't slow down your network, they're right it doesn't slow it down, it brings it to a halt, a modem is faster. If you use web-mail, you can kiss good-bye ever reading that again. It loads a TON of software on your PC. The instructions say to call if you're having issues, but there's no number, and they don't respond to emails. Maybe I can use it as a paper-weight. On the ratings scale Amazon needs half a star, a full star is clearly over-rating this.

(3 stars) - A first step towards centralized network security...
D-Link's Securespot is a step towards centralized home network security ... but doesn't live up to their marketing.

I want to offload the security burden from my individual computers and centrally manage them. After using Securespot for 2 months I can say it's a step in that direction, at least for the central management.

Installation was straightforward. The instructions and manual are on the CD. Installation is 11 simple steps and I made it to #8 before things didn't work. After a detour to update firmware I was able to finish per the instructions and get up and running.

D-Link claims 3 layers of security but it appears more like 1 layer of Control Center managing 2 layers of actual security - the software layer running on up to 4 assigned MS Windows computers and the "little black box with flashing lights" layer now hooked to my network router. We can add additional assigned computers by paying extra.

The Control Center lets us configure our security options using a browser based portal. This is nice, it takes a while to figure out the details and I'll leave the explanation to D-Link's website and manual. Although D-Link says "Protects all devices including game consoles" I can't seem to figure out how to add systems that don't (or can't) run the thin client, like my media server (linux) and game systems, so I guess only default security options apply to those systems which creates some troublesome website filtering limitations.

I get the impression that the "thin client" software required for each computer we want protected and managed isn't so thin. One clue is the "with McAfee VirusScan" message when it starts up. That is followed by a couple minutes of incredible lag while it does whatever it does behind the scene. Apparently each computer still runs it's own software with virus checker and that part isn't offloaded. Just hidden. The virus definition updates automatically and you can schedule the time the virus scan will run to be daily, weekly, or monthly - you will notice the performance hit when it's running.

Website filtering is where it works best. Using the Control Center you begin by choosing from general categories. Then you can customize further if desired to tune to what you want. After configuring the top level you can customize each of your assigned computers. For example, I have kids, so I used the recommendation provided for their age range as the default for my network as a whole. Easy - a pre-configured set of safe categories. Then at the overall default level I re-allowed some sites that were blocked but that I know have age filters set for my kids (like google and yahoo) and I unblocked some other sites that are mis-categorized. Then for my own computers I set the adult range and re-blocked some categories I'm not interested in. For my wife and I, I've had to unblock a handful of sites like crafts and game sites that for some unknown reason were categorized as porn. So expect to make the occasional tweak. Another nice feature - you can set up your email address to get a notice when someone tries to access a blocked site. Note that this is by computer and not by user. If I use the kids computer I get their filters and vice versus.

Early on, I wondered why all of this couldn't be done with my existing D-Link router, which has the capability to do the same functions. Just not easily. Apparently it can. Several newer D-Link routers can have their firmware updated to support Securespot without the added hardware widget. The cost for that is $60 (I assume per year) for network coverage with 3 assigned computers running the virus checker. Or, you can get the website filtering without the thin client (I'm not sure how or if customization works for that) for $30. More info can be found on the D-Link website by chasing the securespot links. Given the choice, I would have gotten the basic filtering and kept a better virus checker.

There is an email spam feature but after 3 weeks and much opportunity it hadn't flagged a single spam email. I turned it off. It seems rudimentary and my email utility does a good job.

I've had some glitchy performance, but nothing tragic.

So overall, I dinged them stars for the rough edges, glitches, not being able to manage a system well without running the thin (fat?) client software on it and the mediocre virus checker.

(1 stars) - I rate it 1/100
This thing is not what it seems. The "AntiVirus" feature is actually software that runs on your computer and is not nearly as good as real AntiVirus software. The only thing this really does is content filtering (adult sites, etc.) and a firewall. You don't need a firewall since it is a very basic firewall that your router, Windows and AntiVirus software already do a million times better.

This product is meant for family and BEGINNERS in networking. And I mean beginners. No advanced person would put this thing near their network. I trashed it and I wouldn't even give it away. Worthless.

So basically we are left with content filtering which is a good feature I guess. But the problem is the device keeps trying to get you to buy upgrades and these upgrades are more software. Also, like I said this thing is meant for beginners but configuring it is pretty advanced. If you don't know what a port is, you will have to learn. So it is basically an advanced device that doesn't do anything meant for beginners. No one should buy it.

You know that pass through RJ45 port for surge protection on your surge protector or UPS, well this thing is the same thing. The only thing it is good for is to take a bullet for your other useful equipment. The problem again, with that, is that as it pretends to look at packets it can actually slow down your internet. As where a UPS or surge protector won't.

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