1st Gen Circle is no longer responding outside my wifi network

[MattMacknamara]

I have been using ORBI RBR50 for a number of years with 1st Gen Circle. This has been great at controlling my children's internet usage, and is the sole reason I selected Orbi. 

In the past few weeks, perhaps since 1 Jan 2023, I have not been able to access Circle from outside of my network. This has not been an issue in the past. This is a key control I need to adjust my children's internet usage when I am not home. 

I have reset the router and I have also performed a factory reset on Circle. Both have not solved this issue. 

Is anyone else having this issue? Is this a known issue that Netgear is working on?

Apart from the above mentioned resets is there other suggestions on how to resolve this issue?

regards,

Matt

[michaelkenward]

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@MattMacknamara wrote:

I have been using ORBI RBR50 for a number of years with 1st Gen Circle. This has been great at controlling my children's internet usage, and is the sole reason I selected Orbi. 

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Circle issues might be best addresses in the section given over to Circle.

Circle Smart Parental Controls - NETGEAR Communities

[KevinLiT]

Hello Mattmacknamara,

Welcome to the NETGEAR Community!

I understand that you are not able to access your network when you are not at home.  This can be caused by the private address feature on iOS devices. 

Please turn off your private IP address if you are using an iOS device. 

To turn off the Private IP address please follow the directions listed below:

Open "Settings"
"Wi-Fi"
Select the "i" icon next to your connected network
Toggle off "Private Wi-Fi Address"

Best,
Kevin
Community Team

[coupeborgward]

yep have the same issue. Router/circle firmware all up to date and using latest android version.

[MattMacknamara]

Hi Kevin, 

The issue occurs outside of my home, when I am the mobile/cell network. The private wifi is not an option when on mobile/cell network. 

This was not a problem that I have had in the past. It also appears I am not the only person who is having this problem. 

Matt

[coupeborgward]

Agree we have three threads now with the same issue. It is not an isolating problem. I can confirm that I had the issue on the latest and the previous firmware of my router. So the issue must be in the actual app since that was item that has changed. After the latest update I noticed that I can't connect to circle from outside my wifi anymore.  So I would assume that circle is working on this with the highest priority to fix this but it seems no one really is working on this !!

[KevinLiT]

Hello @MattMacknamara 

and @coupeborgward ,

Thank you for your clarification on the issues that you are having with the anywhere access feature with Circle. If you are using an RBR50 please ensure that you on on the current FW 2.7.5.4. For the RBR20 the current FW version at this time is FW 2.7.4.24.

Navigate to the links below if your FW is not current:

Please navigate to the link below for the download file for RBK50:
https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RBK50#download

Please navigate to the link below for the download file for RBK20:

Orbi RBK22 | WiFi System | NETGEAR Support

For more information on manually updating your Orbi Mesh Systems please navigate to the link below:
https://kb.netgear.com/31573/How-do-I-manually-upgrade-firmware-on-my-Orbi-router-using-orbilogin-co...

Once you have verified that your Orbi Mesh System FW is current Please PM the following information so I can endorse you to our support team:

Name:
Email:
Phone Number:
Device Model:
Firmware:
Serial Number:
Preferred time to be contacted:
App version:

Please provide this information as soon as possible!
I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Kevin
Community Team

[coupeborgward]

PM is in your inbox Kevin. 

[MattMacknamara]

Hi Kevin, I have made sure the firmware is up to date. The issue persists. I have PM'd you. w

[Reefer]

Hi,

I've been having exactly same problem. Do you have a solution for this issue and do users of current generation have same problem too?

Cheers,

Jason

[coupeborgward]

It seems it is a wide spread problem and I don't think we have a solution or a work around at this stage. Still waiting for one but it seems that this is not high priority for the netgear/circle team.

An update would be nice like -> we were able to reproduce this issue in our lab.

 I bought the Orbi for exactly that feature otherwise I would have properly bought a different router. Sigh