Disney Circle stops working frequently on R7000

Question

Disney Circle Premium stops working frequently on R7000. The only way to fix it, that I've found, is to restart the router. My family is not happy, as they are often blocked from the internet.

I setup my Circle environment originally with the free version, and took my time over a week or more to ensure that I'd setup all the profiles of my family correctly, with their assigned devices. Once I was happy that they were all configured correctly, I then purchased the Premium option to gain the extra features that I was so longing for! I left it a few days before turning on the Bed Time feature, and ever since then Circle will completely stop responding every couple of days or so, which then requires a router reboot. Whilst in this state, it usually locks out my family members who have a bed time set, but not for other profiles.which don't.

Does anyone have a solution to this?... without having to constantly restart the router?

martynz · Answer

Disney circle does NOT work correctly with the latest firmware as at 2 Nov 2018
&nbsp;
The latest firmware is&nbsp;V1.3.1.44_10.1.23
&nbsp;
I am a software developer , ex-test analyst - and father of 4 children.
&nbsp;
Every time you reboot / power cycle the router , Circle switches off. it also has intermittent faults where you cannot connect to it ( I cannot re-create these consistently but they are definietely happening.
&nbsp;
I have taken someone elses advice and completely erased everything back to factory settings and re-entered everything from scratch.&nbsp; this does NOT solve the problem , so as far as the disney circle goes with the Nighthawk R7000P goes , it is completely useless&nbsp;- at least if you want to protect your children.
&nbsp;
What a $%%%$ waste of money.

martynz · Answer

Hi Dexter.
&nbsp;
I have replied ( and copied below )&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Hi Dexter.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
I am sorry but I have changed to Linksys / Untangle. While you might be able to fix it , there is no guarantee that it won't break in the future.
While Disney Circle obviously do take children's safety seriously on the internet , it is not a priority for Netgear ( otherwise you would have picked up something like this in testing and it wouldn't leave a "gaping hole" for children to be exposed to the raw internet ) . Also the fact that there have been quite a few issues reported by people ( and I would say many more not reported ) .
I am sorry , but I am not prepared to go back and fix it , I have moved to a more stable system. while it doesn't have the flexibility of an app , it does support the granular security levels to keep children safe.
&nbsp;
Kind Regards
Martin
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

martynz · Answer

It was just a request for us to contact them.&nbsp; Standard support request. While it's nice to want to fix it 1) I had already spent many hours on it , reset the router and firmware&nbsp; and 2) The fact that this can actually happen to a nuimber of people and not be a concern to them shows me that Parental safety is not a primary concern for them - and it could happen again.&nbsp; &nbsp;I cannot let my children be exposed to that possibility.&nbsp; I am using untangle on a Linksys Router.&nbsp; Not quite as nice as Disney - but more robust.

simon_sharkey · Answer

Hi there,
&nbsp;
I'm also suffering the same issue, a quick google highlights that I'm not the only one. I'm also in the situation that after re-enabling Circle, it is then stuck in "pause" for all devices. Completely un-able to use Circle at the moment on a new router that I purchased for this exact reason.
&nbsp;
Please let me know what the solution is.
&nbsp;
thanks

YrRoT · Answer

Hi Martin,
Thank you for posting your reply to Dexter.&nbsp; I'm curious as to what Dexter's suggestion was in the PM.&nbsp; Would you care to share?&nbsp; Having his responses in PM doesn't allow me to see both sides of the issue.
&nbsp;
Either way, thank you for taking the time to post.&nbsp; It is helpful for me, as I am having the same issues you did with Netgear/Circle.
&nbsp;
Best regards,
Torry

Forum Discussion

Disney Circle stops working frequently on R7000

10 Replies