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For home offices

You work from home and know your way around a network. This is the real thing, not a toy router.

Real VLANs, real traffic shaping, and a real VPN back to the office. Firecradle fits a technical person or remote worker who wants more than a consumer router offers.

VLAN separation · traffic shaping · full VPN support

The problems a consumer router cannot solve

A basic home router treats every device the same. That stops being good enough once work is involved.

Work and family share one network
Your work laptop, the kids’ tablets, and the smart TV all sit on the same network as each other right now.
A big download can wreck a call
Someone starts a game download, and the next video call turns choppy and keeps freezing.
Consumer routers treat controls as an afterthought
Basic home routers offer little beyond a single shared password for every device in the house.
A real VPN back to the office needs real router features
Consumer routers rarely support the VPN protocols a company actually needs.

Keep work, family, and gadgets apart

One physical network can still behave like several separate ones.

Separate work devices from everything else
Put your work laptop on its own VLAN, away from family devices and guests.
Keep smart-home gear boxed in
Cameras, plugs, and other IoT devices often have weak security. Put them on their own network so a hacked one cannot reach your laptop.
Ad blocking for the whole house
Turn on blocklists once and every device is covered — see DNS ad and malware blocking.
Firecradle VLANs screen listing separate networks for work, family devices, and smart-home devices, each with its own address range
Work, family, and smart-home devices, each on their own network.

House rules, set on the network itself

Controls that apply to every device, without installing an app on each one.

House rules on the network itself
Block sites for the whole house, or just one device, using DNS blocking rather than an app installed on every phone.
Schedules that switch devices off at bedtime
Turn a kid’s tablet or a game console off at a set time automatically — see rules and automation.

A real connection back to the office

Firecradle supports the same VPN protocols a company network uses, so a work connection from home is a real one, not a workaround.

Firecradle traffic shaping screen showing a video call traffic class given priority over a bulk download class on the same connection
Calls get priority automatically. Downloads still finish, just not at the call’s expense.
IPsec, WireGuard, OpenVPN
all supported for the trip back to the office
Automatic
priority for calls when the line is busy
Separate
networks for work, family, and smart-home gear
24/7
ad blocking for every device in the house

How home offices actually use this

A work laptop stays off the kids’ network

The problem: A work laptop, kids’ tablets, and a smart TV all share one home network right now.

What Firecradle does:
Create separate networks for work, family, and smart-home devices
Work traffic and VPN traffic stay on their own network
A compromised smart plug cannot reach the work laptop
Everyone can still connect to the same Wi-Fi name if you want that

A big download does not wreck a video call

The problem: Someone starts a large game download, and the next video call turns choppy.

What Firecradle does:
Traffic shaping gives video calls priority automatically
The download keeps going, just not at the call’s expense
Nobody has to remember to pause anything manually
The same setup protects any call, not just work ones

What a home-office Firecradle includes

Real firewall features, sized for one home

VLANs to separate work, family, and smart-home devices
IoT isolation so a hacked device cannot reach a laptop
Ad, tracker, and malware blocking for every device
DNS-based and schedule-based controls, no app installs required
Traffic shaping that protects calls automatically
VPN support for IPsec, WireGuard, and OpenVPN
A live map of every device on the home network
The same anti-lockout protection used in offices

Common questions

Is this really made for one house, or is it overkill?

It fits a technical person, a remote worker, or anyone who wants real VLANs, traffic shaping, and VPN at home. If you just want the simplest possible box for a single household, a consumer router or a product like Firewalla may suit you better — see our honest comparison with Firewalla.

Can I keep my work laptop separate from my family’s devices?

Yes. VLANs split your home network into separate lanes, so work devices, family devices, and smart-home gadgets never see each other, even on the same Wi-Fi.

Can I connect back to my office network from home?

Yes. Firecradle supports VPN, including the protocols most companies already use, so you can reach office systems securely.

Does it stop a big download from ruining a video call?

Yes. Traffic shaping gives calls priority automatically when the connection is busy, so a download does not make a call choppy.

Bring real network security home

VLANs, traffic shaping, and a real VPN, in one appliance built for a home office. Try it free for 30 days.

No credit card required · Cancel anytime · 30-day free trial