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cannot sign in to openDNS account to set-up parental controls using NETGEAR Genie
Hi, I am trying to use NETGEAR Genie Parental controls and when I attempt to login to my OpenDNS account, I get the following error message: "There was an error signing, in please make sure you're ...
Hi Dexter,
Thanks for the update. I have since been in contact with OpenDNS and unfortunately, they couldn't help. I have also submitted a ticket to Netear Support who are currently trying to help me out and has since been upgraded to the expert technician team.
Fortunately, I have an older Netgear modem/router that I have added to my network which I have setup running through the OpenDNS Family Shield servers. I have all my boys devices connected through that modem as a bandaid until I can get these parental control sorted.
So far, we have tried everything from restarting, rebooting, uninstalling, reinstalling, updating, rolling back to previous firmaware, factory resetting, power cycling and bunch more, with no luck. I am curious to know if anyone out there has been able to setup these parental controls first time with no hassles, and also,
I would be interested to hear from people who have had problems with the parental controls feature and have been able to work through to a solution to fixing the issues that they experienced (probably won't here though because not many people jump on these forums if everything is working fine).
Hi MrPink
I have still have this issue after it started occuring back in August this year. This is what I have done:
1) Logged a call with OpenDNS - they told me this was a known issue with Netgear and they needed to fix this
2) Logged a call with Netgear - They have got me to try all sorts of things such as:
- Changing my passwords to use different lengths and characters - no affect
- trying beta firmware on my Nighthawk D7800 device - same problem
- upgrading Genie clients - same problem
- replacing my entire modem/router - even this didnt work so its not a hardware issue
3) Logged this forum response - has been of no help apart from making it obvious this issue is very wide spread and affecting a large number of people regardless of make/model - I work in a large fortune 500 IT company and based on my experience and observation I suspect this is a coding issue with the Negear Genie application and/or a security setting either on networking/firewall/loadbalancing infrastructure/webpage security somewhere between Netgear and OpenDNS which is not allow logon credentials and/or data to be passed between the Genie client and the the OpenDNS account.
4) Support has been very very very poor and its been over a month and a half since I have heard anything. I generally have no contact unless I follow up with an email asking "what is going on" and then I tend to get "we are working on your issue and doing everything we can" type response.
They are still advertising this function on their router which in my mind is false advertising. I bought the top of the range router purely for the parent filtering function that could be selectively applied to device level and this has worked less than 50% of the time I have owned the modem/router.
My experience has been so bad that I would not recommend Netgear to anyone ever again. I am currently looking at the ASUS routers that seem to have some kind of parent filtering at device level and whilst it doesnt look as good as using OpenDNS (which is very good in Australia for a free filtering service). However it seems to be working well from what I can see on the forums and I guess i'd rather have something than nothing. Nothing is all Netgear have been able to provide me.
One very disatisfied Netgear customer.
Hi @TonyWilath, thanks for letting me know about your experience.
I have gone through the same process, up until they want to replace the device (which will most likely be the next step. I am just about resigned to the fact that the parental controls feature will not work and when its time, I will definitely be looking at other manufatcurers first.
Fortunately, I have another modem/router laying around, so what I have done is to add that to the net work (but not as an access point). Changed the DNS settings to the OpenDNS Family Shield servers and connected all my childrens devices through that (and changed the password on my D7800 so they couldn't connect to the unfiltered internet). This seems to have worked quite well, with no issues with wifi frequencies crossing. Just a band aid solution to keep the house flowing.
Hi MrPink
Thats quite a clever suggestion. I also have a few modem/routers lying around so am going to try what you have done. My sole reason for buying the top of the range Negear router was for the kids. Otherwise I would not have spent this kind of money and there are cheaper brands that offer the same performance specs. Its been quite frustrating as my internet is unprotected and I am worried about my little ones seing something they shouldnt.
I appreciate you sharing you workaround.
I'm experiencing the same problem as everybody else: I cannot log into my existing OpenDNS account to set up family controls. I've tried to log in using the Windows app and the iOS (iphone and ipad) app, to no avail. I've repeatedly confirmed that my password is correct by logging in manually to the OpenDNS website, but I never succeed using Netgear Genie. In the iOS apps, it just spins and spins for 5+ minutes until the device goes into standby mode. In Windows, the app simply rejects the password and does nothing visible.
I just bought the router yesterday, and part of the assumption on which I based my decision was that at least rudimentary family controls would be functional, as advertised repeatedly in the ad copy. Now after seeing all these complaints, I'm starting to regret my purchase.
It's frankly baffling how such a major problem could last so long without being corrected. It's also baffling why - if Genie is indeed the root of the problem - the web interface hasn't simply been updated by engineering to allow us to manually change the appropriate settings. It's not just the web filtering that missing, it's also the ability to set usage schedules for individual devices (i.e., to shut down my kids' wifi around bedtime, while leaving mine open) which truly is just basic stuff which doesn't need to be locked up inside the LPC black box.
My X4S is using firmware 1.0.2.20. Windows and iOS fully updated.