Paul Tow » Tomato http://www.paultow.com Tech writer for hire Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:32:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= How to: Block ads with a router http://www.paultow.com/2009/06/10/how-to-block-ads-with-a-router/ http://www.paultow.com/2009/06/10/how-to-block-ads-with-a-router/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:56:46 +0000 Paul Tow http://www.paultow.com/?p=65 Does the idea of blocking online advertisements appeal to you? Many solutions exist, such as the AdBlock Plus extension for Firefox, CSS-based ad-blocking, and Privoxy. What you may not be familiar with, however, is using a router to block ads. Imagine: ad-blocking for an entire network, for all browsers and all operating systems, without any additional configuration on the clients. This includes devices which might not otherwise have a way to block ads, and it can be made even nicer by having the router automatically update its ad-blocking rules. All you need is the Tomato firmware on a compatible router and this guide.

  1. Check if you have a compatible router. If you do, follow the installation instructions carefully, realizing that you are modifying firmware at your own risk. Set your router as you like and then continue to step 2.
  2. Administration -> Scripts -> Init

    Administration -> Scripts -> Init


    In your router’s config panel, go to Administration -> Scripts. Paste the following in the “Init” script, which will run when the router is booted. This will create an empty text file called adblock.conf

    sleep 3
touch /etc/adblock.conf
sleep 2
logger adblock.conf created


  3. Administration -> Scripts -> WAN Up

    Administration -> Scripts -> WAN Up


    Once the router obtains an Internet/WAN connection, we want it to download the latest ad server list. Still under Administration -> Scripts, choose WAN Up and paste the following:

    logger WAN UP Script will execute after 30sec please wait.....
sleep 30
wget -O /etc/adblock.conf "http://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php?hostformat=dnsmasq&showintro=0&mimetype=plaintext"
service dnsmasq restart


  4. Advanced -> Scheduler

    Advanced -> Scheduler


    Now we want to set the router to update its ad blocking rules on a regular basis. Go to Administration -> Scheduler.





  5. Check the box labeled “Enabled” under Custom 1, 2, or 3.

  6. For the time, choose a reasonable update interval that isn’t overly aggressive. I chose to update once a week (every 10080 minutes, Everyday).
  7. Paste the following into the box labeled “Command.” 
    wget -O /etc/adblock.conf "http://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/serverlist.php?hostformat=dnsmasq&showintro=0&mimetype=plaintext" && service dnsmasq restart;

  8. Advanced -> DHCP / DNS

    Advanced -> DHCP / DNS


    Almost done! Go to Advanced -> DHCP / DNS, and make sure that “Use Internal Caching DNS Forwarder” is checked.





  9. Paste the following into the box labeled “Dnsmasq custom configuration.”

    conf-file=/etc/adblock.conf
  10. If you ever suspect that the adblocking is breaking a particular website (such as streaming video), you can temporarily disable it just by removing the text in step 9.
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