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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!
Well. My prior reply is now bracketed by posts on 2 extremes!
I will make 1 response to this negative reply, and only 1. It is entirely incorrect in its facts.
1) Orbi router is free to use.
You don’t have to pay “$5 monthly fee to use your router. Furthermore, unlike other MESH routers, you don’t need an account, or constant connection to use! (cough, Google, cough). You are buying a router here folks. I still guess greater than 90% of people who have routers use ZERO parental controls.
2) For those of us who do... You have robust parental controls for FREE.
You can use the standard Netgear parental controls (which they did not remove), or Disney Circle (which they added as an option). Both for free.
3) You CAN control kids internet time for free. Each device or profile in Circle has a GREAT BIG PAUSE BUTTON. For free. Use it. And if that’s too much trouble, yes, you can pay $4.99 to have automatic time limits if you prefer.
I’m not sure what free service you have used to control your kids if they have a phone. There are none. Kids with a phone no matter the age quickly find out that turning off WiFi gets around ANY router restrictions. So I for one am glad that Circle Go exists. It extends all features to mobile devices regardless of connection.
It’s a great option. I just wish I didn’t have to pay $4.99 twice to be able to use it. $10 a month is a little pricey compared to some of the competitors. However, Circle is the best and easiest to use compared to what’s out there.
Please note that NONE of the options for parental controls are offered by router companies either!!!! Routers provide controls for their network. So that alone pretty much torpedos the prior reply.
I will make 1 response to this negative reply, and only 1. It is entirely incorrect in its facts.
1) Orbi router is free to use.
You don’t have to pay “$5 monthly fee to use your router. Furthermore, unlike other MESH routers, you don’t need an account, or constant connection to use! (cough, Google, cough). You are buying a router here folks. I still guess greater than 90% of people who have routers use ZERO parental controls.
2) For those of us who do... You have robust parental controls for FREE.
You can use the standard Netgear parental controls (which they did not remove), or Disney Circle (which they added as an option). Both for free.
3) You CAN control kids internet time for free. Each device or profile in Circle has a GREAT BIG PAUSE BUTTON. For free. Use it. And if that’s too much trouble, yes, you can pay $4.99 to have automatic time limits if you prefer.
I’m not sure what free service you have used to control your kids if they have a phone. There are none. Kids with a phone no matter the age quickly find out that turning off WiFi gets around ANY router restrictions. So I for one am glad that Circle Go exists. It extends all features to mobile devices regardless of connection.
It’s a great option. I just wish I didn’t have to pay $4.99 twice to be able to use it. $10 a month is a little pricey compared to some of the competitors. However, Circle is the best and easiest to use compared to what’s out there.
Please note that NONE of the options for parental controls are offered by router companies either!!!! Routers provide controls for their network. So that alone pretty much torpedos the prior reply.
My beef is #3. My Asus and Synolocy router allows scheduled internet time FOR FREE in router control. It is a very standard function that you do not have to pay for. If you have kids, you don't have time to constantly turn on and off the internet by using an app (for free). That is like saying you can record a tivo show every single time the show comes on and you just need to push a BIG record button. Why you need to do that in this computer age?! Like I said, for parents, do not buy this router or any other Netgear router with this Circle integration. You will be forced to pay for $5 monthly fee to use it to control internet time of your kids.
So, I have an Orbi and I enabled the premium features for Disney Circle and I am paying $4.99/month for that and then I saw that Disney Circle Go came out and I enabled that as well, that is another $4.99/month. Can I cancel premium and will Circle Go be sufficient? I shouldn't be paying twice for the same features