The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

I am the family I.T. support and now I can’t just answer the phone with, “Did you try turning it off and on again?” I have to take care of whatever comes along, settings changes, instructions and so much more. I also have to worry when viruses come up. Not only am I taking care of all of the devices in my own home, I am taking care of those at my parents’ house as well. I probably should have set up my new CUJO Smart Firewall at their house and got one for our house. But, when my CUJO Smart Firewall arrived I immediately set it up on our home network, which was a snap, and then proceeded to explore the features of the app.

First off, the customer service is freaky cool. I setup my CUJO Smart Firewall and the app and attempted to set it up with a Google WiFi that I had installed recently. I learned through the customer service that I could only use the CUJO Smart Firewall in a certain mode with the Google WiFi. However, I still had my cable modem and router so I connected my Cujo to that to prevent anything coming into our home as the first line of defense against hackers and spam sites and malware. How do I know that I am being protected? My CUJO Smart Firewall app sends me messages when certain devices in the house attempt to connect to these questionable sites. I don’t have to worry because CUJO Smart Firewall has these excellent features:

• BUSINESS-LEVEL INTERNET SECURITY
  Detects and blocks malicious sites and hacks
• GUARDS ALL DEVICES
  We’re talking phones, tablets, computers, baby monitors, thermostats, security cameras and more
• PARENTAL CONTROLS
  You can control what your kids access online. Set time limits, schedules, and sites that are permitted. Apply access policy to any or all devices.
• CONNECT TO ROUTER, CONTROL WITH APP
  The CUJO takes just a few minutes to start. Plug the CUJO device into your router and follow the step-by-step guide on your CUJO app.
• BLAZING FAST (built with 1GB Ethernet)
  With Dual core 1GHz processor, 4GB flash memory and 1GB DDR SRAM memory inside. There are also Two Gigabit Ethernet ports on the device.

I like how the CUJO guards all devices. In the net few weeks I am going to be installing some connected items into the home. Digital Thermostat, Security cameras, connected doorbell and the like. With CUJO I know they are being protected from outside hacks. that is important to me.

In our home parental controls are the top priority for devices. I can rest comfortably that the network is protected but it is up to me and my wife to protect the kids from what they may learn online. And also to guide them to other outlets when they are getting too much screen time. There are many parental controls available with the CUJO. You can set controls for each individual device. You can also set up an internet filter, set time limits. Setting time limits cuts off any debate over how long your child has used a particular device. I know that I can easily get distracted and forget how long the kids have been on their tablets. With time limits I can have CUJO tell them that the time is up.

With the parental controls you can also shut down the whole, “One more minute” thing when it is time for dinner. With a tap of a button on the app I can pause the Internet, end of discussion, time for the family to gather for dinner. While my kids are younger, almost 6 and almost 10, they aren’t on much social media. They do watch YouTube Kids and I have approved most of the shows that they watch there. The kids are making good choices, for the most part. However, if this gets to be a problem I can set controls on specific social media site and monitor social media.

Each person in our house has their own profile and specific settings. I can set up what each device has access to and more. I can do this through the use of the CUJO app and remotely administrate my network and all of our devices. there are even alerts and reporting sent to me. I’ve noticed a few alerts for attempts to access sites that have malware. I am glad that CUJO keeps those out of our network.

The CUJO Smart Firewall – retails at Best Buy for $250 and for that you are buying peace of mind that your connected home is only connected to what you want your family to connect with. I have been very happy with it.

I do want to say something about the user support, too. They were excellent with me on my particular network setup. I was astonished to receive this email, “We are glad to see you activated your CUJO device. We’d be happy to provide help with any issues you have encountered. Is there anything we could help you with?” almost immediately after I had installed the CUJO app. Then as I attempted to connect CUJO to my network I received more emails from support including an email from Einaras Gravrock the CEO of CUJO with his personal number so that I could call him and let him know what I thought of the product. I didn’t call. Things were setting up fine.

I did speak to someone from the CUJO support services because I was attempting to connect Cujo to Google WiFi. They were completely upfront with me about the capabilities and limits of CUJO and for that I am very appreciative. Simon Kairys explained everything in a simple to understand way. I do hope that CUJO and Google WiFi will become more compatible in the future but for now I am enjoying the setup as it is.