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Circle with Disney Parental Controls On Orbi WiFi Systems Now Available
Click Here for details on installing Circle with Disney on your Orbi WiFi System.
NETGEAR is bringing peace of mind to parents by managing not only access to appropriate online content but also...
The most useful review on this thread by Frank. He gets it.
I just dumped my traditional router for Orbi. 100% of the reason for choosing Orbi is the performance of the system. Every review clearly states it is #1 as a MESH solution, and they are correct. There isn't anything else close for a larger home. Trust me, I have tried many router, extender, dual router and MESH options.
That being said, the parental controls are actually a nice bonus. I had looked at Circle for a year, but just couldn't bring myself to set up a new account and buy a piece of hardware. The fact that it was integrated into Orbi is great. All you do is sign up.
Frank gave an excellent account of the free Circle features. That is good enough for 99% of parents, and better than any other router parental controls I have used. It's also better than a couple subscription services I have tried due to ease of use.
My one complaint was touched on above. The basic features (pause internet, filter content and services by age, monitor usage) are great. I wish Netgear/Disney would offer an option to install the basic features on 4G/LTE using the MDM/VPN solution. I just want to extend the basic features to my kids' phones when not on WiFi. Call it Circle Go Light! I would happily pay $4.99/mo for that, but it is a bit of price gouging to require $4.99/mo to ENABLE THE ABILITY to pay extra for Circle Go!
I respectfully request that you offer this in a future update. Just do it an squash the competition!
So, kudos to Circle for Disney - they will accept a return on the hardware which I will shorty not need. Good customer service.
Soon ?
As in several days, weeks, months ?
I purchased the Orbi this weekend because (reading some tests with devices already having the Circle option) I thought Circle was already inside. Having a Synology 1900 AC (with great parental controls and other apps, but bad Wifi) I assumed to have a smooth transition. The current OpenDNS parental control is a farce. I can't figure out how to set a timetable for my teenage kids for specifice devices for example.
Hope to work with Circle as soon as possible.
Martin
Currently there is no way to set timelimits on the Orbi/Genie and it looks like Circle will charge you $5/month to use this feature ?
Parental Controls is an important feature for me and with Netgear making the Timelimits/Usage an upgrade/Premium feature - that another $60/year on top of $350+ Orbi router. Ouch...I just bougth the Orbi and I am returning back tomorrow 'cause paying 5 euros/month for something that other brands offers for free it's a scam!
Even my old linksys router supports parental control...indeed without the nice circles :)
fargozhu wrote:
I just bougth the Orbi and I am returning back tomorrow 'cause paying 5 euros/month for something that other brands offers for free it's a scam!
Even my old linksys router supports parental control...indeed without the nice circles :)
I'm sorry you feel that way. It is in no way a "scam". We've worked hard to ensuring it has some great out-of-the-box value. Being able to use an app to pause the Internet and filter size is very useful. You might consider doing a side by side comparisons of our full set of free feature set vs. others and make a decision based on that. Even without our Circle Family controls the Orbi its one of the fastest WiFi Systems available.
GijsZePa wrote:
Soon ?
As in several days, weeks, months ?
I purchased the Orbi this weekend because (reading some tests with devices already having the Circle option) I thought Circle was already inside. Having a Synology 1900 AC (with great parental controls and other apps, but bad Wifi) I assumed to have a smooth transition. The current OpenDNS parental control is a farce. I can't figure out how to set a timetable for my teenage kids for specifice devices for example.
Hope to work with Circle as soon as possible.
Martin
You can now update your firmware manually on Orbi to include the updates Circle with Disney on Orbi OS 2.1, updating automatically will be coming soon. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Announcing-availability-of-OrbiOS-2-1/m-p/1447612
I am really kind of pissed about the way this was announced. It seems like you get circle but what you really get with this integration is a marketing button for a partial circle premium experience. $4.99 a month for anything more than what Genie with OpenDNS provides, and if you want Circle actual premium then that is another $4.99 a month (so with netgear pay an additional $9.98 a month for actual circle premium) This is a marketing fail.
What ?
I was willing to pay $4.99 for premium features. But almost $10 for features that most competitors have standard ? My previous synology RT1900ac system did that without extra fees...
Is this really true ?
