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Circle Home Plus and Orbi RBR850 / AX6000
After previously using the integated Circle Parental Controls on an Orbi RBR50 (RBK52+RBS50) we have upgraded to the RBR850 (RBK852) and purchased a Circle Home Plus device. While that is an extra purchase it has the added advantage of being portable when upgrading the mesh network in the future plus it protect mobile devices when outside our network.
The one thing to note is that Circle do warn of potential issues with both RBR750 and RBR850:
Router Compatibility for the Circle Device – Circle Support Center (meetcircle.com)
The suggested solution is to use the built-in Circle Compatibility Mode but this restricts traffic for a monitored device to 100Mbps up and down where as usually Circle has very little impact on download speeds when used with compatible routers.
When first setting up the RBR850 with Circle Home Plus and after some testing this was the issue when not using Compatibility Mode:
- Devices wired directly into the RBR850 worked without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBR850 could not access the internet (unless they were put into unmanaged).
- Devices wired directly into the RBS850 worked without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBS850 worked without issues.
The RBS850 device is detected by Circle Home Plus as a network device which was put into unmanaged. The RBR850 doesn't get detected by Circle Home Plus which I thought might have been the issue. I also noted that during setup the RBR850 had activated the Armour trial which I could not turn off either through the Orbi app or the web admin. Using Comatability Mode also got everything working so if don't mind being limited to 100Mbps download on each device that is also an option.
After updating to the latest firmware (3.2.17.12) I decided to do a full reset of the RBR850 and then setup again from scratch. This time I setup the Orbi using the web interface and declined the trial of Armour. This time around everything appears to be working (again the RBS850 has been detected as a network device which has been put as unmanaged):
- Devices wired directly into the RBR850 work without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBR850 work without issues.
- Devices wired directly into the RBS850 work without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBS850 work without issues.
I have rebooted the Orbi system and everything is still working but I haven't dared change any settings so far (the only change that is needed is the 5ghz WiFi channel). Hopefully this setup continues to work but I'll post again here if any issues arise.
So for anyone having issues with Orbi RBR850/AX6000 systems doing a full reset and setup from scratch might get this working. I think that might be why Circle say to use Compatibility Mode IF issues are seen.
NOTE: This post was originally published as "Circle Home Plus with Orbi RBR850 / AX6000" on 3rd March 2021 at 10:35am but it hasn't shown up and I can't post a reply so reposting in full.
1 Reply
Further update on this as yesterday (4th March), the day after I originally posted, I checked and so far so good:
- Devices wired directly into the RBR850 worked without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBR850 worked without issues.
- Devices wired directly into the RBS850 worked without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBS850 worked without issues.
I decided to go ahead and change the channel used by the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi bands and again everything continued to work. Then later on in the day the same issue arose where devices connected to the RBR850 over WiFi could no longer access the internet. Around the same time the Orbi app started issuing Netgear Armour notifications about devices joining the network. After some testing sure enough the same thing:
- Devices wired directly into the RBR850 worked without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBR850 could not access the internet (unless they were put into unmanaged).
- Devices wired directly into the RBS850 worked without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBS850 worked without issues.
I used the Orbi app and confirmed that the Netgear Amour trial had been activated, hence the notifications about devices joining the network, and as before using Compatibility Mode on Circle Home Plus got things working (although limited to 100Mbps download).
Last night I discovered how to disable Netgear Armour, which isn't as obvious as it seems since the Secuity button in the main Orbi app just takes you to the Armour details. You have to access the Settings Menu, Security, and then there is a toggle to turn it off.
When I had deactivated Netgear Armour I was able to turn off Compatibility Mode on Circle Home Plus and still have a fully working system:
- Devices wired directly into the RBR850 work without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBR850 work without issues.
- Devices wired directly into the RBS850 work without issues.
- Devices using WiFi connecting to the RBS850 work without issues.
This morning (5th March) things are still working correctly so hopefully it is Netgear Armour that causes the incompatibility with Circle Home Plus. Perhaps others that have had issues can confirm this too. I'll post again if further issues are encountered and also in a few days if everything continues to work.