Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

jjpank
Tutor

Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I've had my RBR750 for months now, and there still is no word on an implementation of the Circle app for it.  It was an expensive router, and i thought it would come with that feature right out of the box when I bought it.   I thought for sure it would come with parental control features, but it is worthless for any of those features without the Circle app.  

 

Can anyone on the Netgear or Circle team tell us if this will EVER be available?  

Message 1 of 69
pugximo
Guide

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Same Q - Can we get an update from Netgear on this?

Message 2 of 69
pugximo
Guide

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Bump

Message 3 of 69
CMorlan
Star

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I just received my Orbi Ultra-Performance Mesh WiFi System - AX6000 - 2 pack (RBK852) and am astounded that there are no parental controls at all. The website is very misleading on this, it makes it look like Circle is included on the entire Orbi line.

 

Looking into this issue through the forums shows it's a long standing issue with the AX#### series, with no clear response from Netgear as to if/when it will be added as of 9/12/2020.

 

What an incredible let-down. There should be a huge, blinking warning on the AX product and order pages that says NO PARENTAL CONTROLS INCLUDED. Anything less is incredibly misleading.

 

Very disappointed in Netgear. I'm returning this immediately.

Message 4 of 69
kent3800
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I second the need for Smart Parental Controls on the RBR750. Extremely frustrating and the orbi website is misleading. 

 

When I was within my initial support window, I recevied this message from suppor on 2020-07-15:

"Circle with Disney is no longer available and will be replaced by NETGEAR Smart Parental Controls. About the Circle 2nd Gen. we don't have the app or hardware version to all Nighthawk/Orbi router for this. Netgear stopped already on the Circle 1st Gen as there was already a plan of replacing it. If you wanted to still use the RBR750 you can contact Circle as they have a physical device that can be added to your Orbi WiFi 6 Mesh router."

 

Then in response to when Smart Parental Control would be availalbe 2020-07-18:

"the Circle with Disney can still be used but this latest model of Orbi Mesh WiFi 6 router - RBR750 is currently not supporting any Parental Control features. For the Smart Parental Control's ETA possibly be after next month. Routers currently supporting Circle with Disney - https://kb.netgear.com/000044718/Which-NETGEAR-routers-support-Circle-Smart-Parental-Controls"

 

Well, looks like Netgear missed that month window. Netgear the Orbi router system is quite good for wifi. Software - not good.

Message 5 of 69
Award102
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

We just upgraded to the new ORBI WIFI 6 mesh network. I was so disappointed to find out the circle is not compatible. Please let me know what the est time it will be for the circle to work with this or at least let us know if you are not planning to make this work so I can replace my system. It is rough to not have the parental controls during this time.
Message 6 of 69
GREG873
Guide

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Following.  Very disappointed with RBR750. Thankfully Costco will accept returns if not rectified soon. 

Message 7 of 69
dgtxwifi
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Any replies here? I agree that this model needs some parental control and I would also agree that it's misleading because my expectations was that Circle would be available for all the Orbi models.


@jjpank wrote:

I've had my RBR750 for months now, and there still is no word on an implementation of the Circle app for it.  It was an expensive router, and i thought it would come with that feature right out of the box when I bought it.   I thought for sure it would come with parental control features, but it is worthless for any of those features without the Circle app.  

 

Can anyone on the Netgear or Circle team tell us if this will EVER be available?  


 

Message 8 of 69
GREG873
Guide

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I called Netgear. The person I spoke with said parental controls will be added, but could not tell me when. I don't intend to wait much longer...

Message 9 of 69
Degoat11
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I also recently bought the RBR750 Netgear Orbi Mesh (with WiFi 6) and was very disappointed that there are seemingly no parental controls. I can block a bunch of sites or keywords and give 1 IP address trusted priviledges...... but this is terrible. The hardware is fantastic, but without the ability to set parental controls, this is a step back from my old router......

Message 10 of 69
GREG873
Guide

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

So I just got an email from Netgear that says parental controls available now via Circle. Tried it. Not compatible with RBR750. Ridiculous. 

Message 11 of 69
SergeL
Apprentice

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Bump....

 

I was reallt disapointed to learn that my brand new RBR750 apparently missing parental control. The Orbi website advertises parental control as a great feature, and not actually including it with the latest model is a bad marketing and product management. I hope Netgear team can get their sh&t together and release support for Circeles soon.

Message 12 of 69
lenebene
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Yes, I totally agree...  My old Orbi had Circle.  We have used it for several years.  I was very upset to find my new Orbi doesn't have AYNTHING regarding parental control.   It's pretty sad. 

Message 13 of 69
vijay05
Guide

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Bump

 

Any updates on this?  Very expensive router to be used just as router. 

Message 14 of 69
rxe
Initiate
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

bump

Message 15 of 69
dtay
Luminary

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??


@rxe wrote:

bump


RBK853 user here and currently running Circle Plus (in "compatibility mode") and it's been a mixed results.

 

I've been in contact with Circle support and apparently in their latest update on their website, they show the RBK7xx (AX4200) ORBI being compatible with Circle provided you run in compatibility mode, but not the RBK8xx (AX6000):

 
⚠︎ Orbi RBR750, RBK752, and RBK753 (Only compatible with Circle Home Plus, Use Compatibility Mode)
⚠︎ Orbi RBR850, RBK852, and RBK853 (We are investigating issues with these routers)
 
 
Circle support says the latest firmware  from Netgear supposedly makes it compatible but didn't elaborate further and I am past my 90 days complimentary tech support priviledge with Netgear to open a ticket to inquire about it.
 
Message 16 of 69
GREG873
Guide

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

 bump

Message 17 of 69
Dmoneymoney
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Let's go netgear! one of the reasons I bought this router was because that circle was included. Only after I bought it did I find out it was not but soon it will come out. Well guess what it still hasn't come out.

let's go Netgear your documentation is very misleading and I'm very unhappy I spent all this money on a new orbi router and I'm still not getting the features I expect.

Between initial instability issues and now lack of functionality I'm disappointed overall with this router.
Message 18 of 69
Feenixfire
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I am beyond frustrated with this router. Over $400 for a system that just relays traffic? No parental controls is appalling and a very shady sales tactic because like others I saw the circle plug and thought this would work. Get it together netgear.
Message 19 of 69
CMorlan
Star

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Considering there are posts from 8/2 that mention owning the router for months with no change, I wouldn't hold your breath. I've been keeping tabs on this topic and there's been no change. Purely speculation, but my guess is they don't want to keep spending the licensing fee for a third party service and the in-house development process hit serious problems.

 

I returned mine—Netgear customer service didn't bat an eye when I told them why. To their credit, it was one of the smoothest RMA processes. They got that part right at least.

 

I picked up one of the new eero Pro 6 wifi6 packages and it's working exactly as expected. The parental controls aren't as good as Circle or Gryphon, IMO, but at least they 1) are present 2) work and 3) don't mess up the rest of the router's functionality. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Message 20 of 69
mleasure
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

First of all, you can't even find the RBR750 on the Model menu for this forum.  That may tell you something right there.  Second, I have been trying to connect my Orbi RBR750 to the circle app only to find out that this very expensive unit is not supported.  Looks like no one is even replying from Netgear, which is a HUGE customer service issue and tells me they don't really care about support.  Maybe they want the extra $10/month form the other circle app as a $$ generator and don't want to have to address why this doesn't come with the router.  I bought this at Costco and will return becuse if there is one thing I hate, it's poor customer service.

Message 21 of 69
giantsuper
Initiate

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I am very happy with the performance of this router (AX4200) and VERY disappointed that it has no supported parental controls. Coming from a Nest WIFI which had very simple and intuitive controls, this is a huge disappointment and would like to know when Netgear plans to support parental controls. Parental controls on a modern WIFI router is table stakes at this point and I'm in disbelief that it is not part of the package.

Message 22 of 69
SergeL
Apprentice

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I've ordered Circles Home Plus, tired waiting for Netgear to enable this feature by default, will see how it goes. Maybe this is the plan all along to force people to buy extra piece of equipment?

Message 23 of 69
SergeL
Apprentice

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

I've recieved Circles Home Plus, it's absolute garbage, cannot properly detect network traffic and block activities on the network. I'm very disappointed. 

Message 24 of 69
vijay05
Guide

Re: Why No Circle for RBR750 or other Wifi6 Routers??

Guess, it does not really matter to Netgear what customer really needs as long as they have folks keep buying this expensive paperweight. 

Message 25 of 69
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