alpha shield firewall

I purchased the last one (an open box- although they denied it) at the local radioshack.

Using my Win XP harddrive- My software firewall indicates that Alpha Shield DOES work- However:

The BIG problem is the windows network icon indicates that my network speed has DROPPED from 100 Mbps to 10 Mbps.

But my Linux harddrive will not hook up to internet at all!!! Ubuntu and the integrated firewall are trying to detect my DSL modem and can't. I will try putting Alpha Shield before the DSL modem to see what happens.

In any case the network speed DROPOFF is UNACCEPTABLE (I will fiddle around with it some more).

 

I am useing it on Vista Home Premium and there is no slow down at all. If there is none of the equiptment or software I have can detect any slow down. When I first installed AS I had to power down the modem and then reboot the comp and then fire up the modem again and then everything worked as advertisd.

 

I finished performing Internet Speed tests and there is NO performance decrease with Alpha Shield although the windows network icon continues to say 10 Mbps.

For my Linux hard drive- Installation of the Alpha Shield before the DSL modem requires an RJ11 connector. Alpha Shield comes with the standard RJ45 connector. Do they make an RJ11/RJ45 connector adaptor?

 

I am sure Radio Shack or somewhere will have an adapter, here is one at this site http://www.pctekonline.com/necac.html and I have seen the adapter selection at Big Lot stores for $3.00 And here are a bunch of places to check http://www.google.com/products?client=opera&rls=en&q=Rj11+to+RJ45+adaptor&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&um=1

 

I bought an Alpha Shield about 2 years ago or so for $150 Canadian dollars. I ended up taking it back to Future Shop then very next day. It functioned very poorly with file sharing programs at that time because there was no configuration utility available to download at that time and no way to open ports other then the wide open port on the unit. I wanted that extra ability of configuration options that a router offers.

Hack-proof statement:

If you read the line very carefully (unless they have changed the words), it basically stated that the unit was hack-proof only when the AlphaGAP was enabled. That means that the connection was technically disconnected from the Internet, maybe not physically, but technically. There was a lot of talk about this statement back when it first came out many years ago. You just have to read the fine print sometimes.

Firmware:

This is something that I actually wish the AlphaShield had. They say that it's a good thing so that it cannot be hacked. But what about any imperfections in the coding? Let's face it, routers need a firmware update every once in a while to fix little (or big) mistakes or flaws once or twice a year. I cannot imagine that the network coding of the AlphaShield is that perfect. And what about changes to networking protocols such as IPv6? I just didn't like that fact that what I bought had no way of updating.

I would say that the AlphaShield is great for Internet users that are not at all familiar with Internet security. They can simply plug it in and that is all there is to it. For the original price, no way. For these great deals of $50 and under, certainly. Personally, if I had the extra cash I would possibly consider the professional version because of the fact that it has more configuration options like a router.

Please remember that this is just my opinion of the AlphaShield and that it is based on my use and knowledge of it from 2-3 years ago.

Cheers,
Dave

 

I have an alpha shield and currently Im having trouble connecting to some of my games, paticularly Xbox Live and Battle.Net (Blizzards gaming Server).

Ive opened the ports that i need to in order to play my games using the ACU setup yet It only allows me to play for 10 minutes and then kicks me off saying that the ports (Which I just opened are open) are blocked. The alpha shield is in 'Auto' mode which means it should never disconnect it self unless i manually do so, yet it continues to kick me off outside of my control. The whole while this happening the alpha shield remains in ACU mode (the middle light flashing amber). I know its not my other software firewalls because Ive connected to battle.net off other networks and not had this same trouble. Any Ideas why this may be happening to me? Any suggestions would help.

Im on a laptop connecting wirelessly through a router(which does to have the ports open).

Thanks in Advance.

 

Have you tried it with the switch on back in different modes yet to see if it disconnects?

 

Yeah, I have it in 'Auto' Mode which is the middle. Its not supposed to timeout automatically in auto mode like it does in the default mode(disconnects after 15 min of inactivaty). Its strange It kicks me off after so much time of playing (which varies) and tell me that port 6112 is closed.(which I have set to be open).

Thanks again for any help you can give me.

 

That is strange, I don't know how good their support is but it is worth a try getting in touch with them.

 

"AlphaShield's Real-time Packet Authorization uses an Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure to determine what is allowed or not allowed in your computer.
AlphaShield will create a tunnel between your IP addresses and the destinations' IP addresses and will only allow the requested information to enter your computer through the specified port."

from website. Any light on this from anyone? Do they use some VPN like sevice or channel data through own proxies?

 

I did find a Alpha shield (bottom of a drawer which I purchased about 2 years ago, so it is the first version). It does reduce internet speed, it appears to have a max of around 5mb, this was just a basic test of online "speedtest", which while connected without Alpha shield showed 18mb download, with AS attached showed 5mb, I then removed AS, and I was back to 18mb.

 

It is basically an SPI firewall with some web filtering (blocks popups) by stopping re-directs (such as some browsers do)

 

I have the latest version of alphashield and since I installed it a while back I have not seen any internet slow down at all. Maybe that was a setting in the earlier version.

 

Yes I agree with bigc.

 

does this alpha shield have the ability to foward ports?

does it interfer with games that need ports fowarded??

 

Thanks Stem for the clarification.

 

Here's a good one . I picked up an AlphaShield recently and stuck it
in between my router and hub. (Not needed for security here, just fooling
around with it). Went to do a tracert tonight, and it kept timing out.
Removed the AlphaShield, and tracert worked.
Apparently it blocks the required ICMP types/codes. FYI.

 

Re: alpha shield firewall how to tell PRO from Home

I emailed tech support at alphashield and they gave me a super fast reply on how to tell the difference between the two...with pro you can configure ports manually, I have ip cameras running in my house and need to change some settings to alow the ports to be open here it is.


In the AlphaShield Professional Edition you can open ports. In other words AlphaShield Professional Edition has DCU possible in it.

Only way to tell from the Unit whether it is Professional Edition or Home Edition is by pressing both the buttons on the top, the central LED will blink orange/amber for the Professional Edition.

When you press the both button then the following can happen:

* If you have not used DCU mode of AlphaShield before then the
Central LED will blink orange/amber till the buttons are released.
* If you have used the DCU mode before the last power cycle, it goes
into the DCU Mode and will open the ports previously opened.

If you want to get into the DCU mode you will have to download the ACU Utility from the download section of website. Install and Run the Utility to open ports.