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Gavin70's avatar
Gavin70
Aspirant
Aug 23, 2020

Circle Netgear vs Genie

All,

 

I currently have a NetgearD6200 and I want to upgrade it.  I really like the Genie Parental Controls.  By default I can exclude explicit content, gambling, etc.  My Guest WiFi for example defaults to no explicit content and devices only have access to the internet (not the LAN).   Across the LAN exceptions can be managed at the MAC Address Level; and the settings can be altered by MAC Address. That means I have filter control at the individual device level.

 

I am considering upgrading to the R7000P - or another Netgear Router with Circle Parent Controls.  I would only use the Controls on the LAN - I do not want to filter content on remote devices.

 

I have read about Circle.  I understand that the App is used for managing the filtering - but in some blogs people have said for the functionality to work the individual user (each child) needs to be logged into the app or the filtering does not work - if they don't log in then their device can bypass the filtering - this seems like a huge loophole!

 

I can't find a Circle instruction manual to clarify the situation.

 

Does anyone have experience with th Circle Parent Controls? How does it compare to the Genie Parent Controls?

 

Regards,

Gavin70

3 Replies

    • Gavin70's avatar
      Gavin70
      Aspirant
      Aug 30, 2020

      Christian,

       

      Thanks, but that site (which I have already been to) does not answer my question.

       

      Can I set filter parameters at a MAC Address level? Can I set overall filter levels with exceptions at the device level or does every device need to be logged into the Circle App? We have many devices (like TV's, media devices, etc) that can not run loggin scripts.

       

      Regards,

      Gavin 

      • DatabaseJase's avatar
        DatabaseJase
        Luminary
        Sep 02, 2020

        Hi Gavin,

         

        Hopefully I can help you out.  You do not need, and would not want to, install the circle app on any devices except a parents/guardians phone or tablet to manage the circle.  There was another app that was part of the circle service which you could install onto other devices that enforced the same filtering over mobile networks so this is perhaps where the confusion comes in.  That service is now only available as part of Circle v2 which is only available via a circle hardware device so I won't go into further details here (I'm not aware of any routers supporting v2 directly).

         

        We use circle and the way it works is you place devices into groups and apply the filters/limits to that group.  As an example we have a group for each for our kids in which we place their own devices (consoles, smart TVs, tablets, etc.) to protect them.  We have another group for guests.

         

        Individual MAC address filtering is not possible but there is no reason why you couldn't do this through additional groups.  As an example we might have extra groups for one child and place different devices (smart TVs and consoles vs. tablets for example) into each group to apply different filters/limits.

         

        You are probably aware of this already but just in case there is a monthly/annual subscription required for circle if you want to use time limits, etc.  The free service is very basic.

         

        Hope that helps.