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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.Circle on Orbi WiFi Systems and Nighthawk Routers
NETGEAR is bringing peace of mind to parents by managing not only access to appropriate online content but also limiting the time that children are spending online.
Circle with Disney is the smart way for families to manage content and time online, on any connected device. With the easy-to-use Circle app – available for download on both iOS and Android™ devices – parents can easily create unique profiles for each family member. This includes creating daily time limits for apps and websites, setting individual filter levels for each family member, scheduling BedTime for each family member and their devices, and pausing the internet by device or by user with the press of a button. You can even manage your family’s mobile devices outside the home through Circle Go.
You can use Circle with Disney now on supported Nighthawk Routers such as the R7000P, R7000 and R6900 and soon it will come to the Orbi WiFi System.
Click Here for details on installing Circle with Disney on your Orbi WiFi System
To check if Circle with Disney is available on your Nighthawk Router or Orbi WiFi System download the Circle app from the App Store or Download Circle with Disney from Google Play.
Read the Full Press Release: Netgear Partners With Circle Media Labs To Provide Smart Parental Control Of Your Home Network
Visit the NETGEAR Circle with Disney Smart Parental Controls page for more info.
Discuss Circle with Disney in the Nighthawk Routers forum and Orbi WiFi Systems forum.
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!
37 Replies
This is good news for Orbi owners. The Circle functionality works well. However, having just purchased the Circle hardware ‘cube’ only 5 weeks ago, I am really pissed that I have just forked out $90 for something I will shortly have on my Orbi for free. I have been in touch with the manufacturer and hope they do the decent thing by their customers.
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
So what about for smart kids who will simply turn off Wifi and use the carrier's LTE to access texting, browsing, apps?
For smart kids Circle has Circle Go which extends all of Circle’s settings on your home Wi-Fi to your kid’s mobile device 4G connections, and any other Wi-Fi network they join. You can use the MyCircle app to install Circle Go on your kid’s mobile device.
OrbiExpert
Thanks - can they delete the Circle Go app from their phone, or is there any other way around the parental control features on the kids' phones? I have teenagers.
- I sure hope it works better than the Netgear OpenDNS parental controls which do not work at all.
What a stupid piece of crap!!! Wish I had never purchased this router - no parental controls included??? Sub out this to Disney so they can gouge you on a monthly subscription??? Netgear should be embarrased that they can't provide basic parental controls.
- Circle is awesome and worth the premium. If you don’t need the advanced features of it there is no monthly fee.
As someone who has owned the standalone circle device for over a year moving the functionality into the Orbi is great and well worth the little bit of money circle wants a month.
I just purchased my Orbi system and I'm shocked that I have to pay a subscription rate for basic funtionality that my Asus router had built into it's firmware. I'm returning my Orbi for a mesh kit that doesn't price gouge its customers.
We have an Orbi Wifi Router with Cricle and Circle Go enabled. My teenager has Circle Go on her IOS iPhone.
I had "not allowed" facebook but allowed instagram for my teenager. When she tried to use instagram, she could see some things but not load pictures or videos from her contacts. I tried "unmanaged" but no improvement. It then occurred to me that instagram is owned by facebook, so I "allowed" facebook, and then her instagram worked properly.
wrote:
We have an Orbi Wifi Router with Cricle and Circle Go enabled. My teenager has Circle Go on her IOS iPhone.
I had "not allowed" facebook but allowed instagram for my teenager. When she tried to use instagram, she could see some things but not load pictures or videos from her contacts. I tried "unmanaged" but no improvement. It then occurred to me that instagram is owned by facebook, so I "allowed" facebook, and then her instagram worked properly.
For detailed support for the Circle integration, you should check the help topics on the Circle website.
I found a Circle article that might help regarding Instagram.
Is a family member's Instagram account not loading correctly?
If so, you might have set Instagram to "Allowed", but Facebook to "Not Allowed". Instagram is a service that is now owned by Facebook, and both services are heavily reliant on common server addresses (for example, Instagram now uses Facebook's content/media servers). If you set Facebook to "Not Allowed", it's likely something might break in Instagram as well.
You can change the Facebook platform in Circle Home to "Allowed" if you want this content to load properly. Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to differentiate appropriately between the two services for the reason listed above.
Purchased Orbi AC3000 in place of a Linksys AE8500 due to the capability to have one on each level of my home. Linksys offers FREE the parental control future where as for Netgear you have to pay Disney a monthly fee. If you want my opinion NEtgear should offer as a FREE service or drop Disney. If not, you will continue to lose business like mine. Returning today!
The Orbi is one of the most expensive routers on the market, albeit with high-end functionality. Unfortunately, however, with the introduction of the firmware v 2.1.1.12, parental controls beyond basic filtering cost an additional $4.99 per month via Disney Circle (http://www.netgear.co.uk/landings/circle/). Even as I write this, I cannot believe that Netgear is expecting its customers to pay for functionality that other manufacturers include as standard. Shame on you NetGear - Shame on you!!
The Orbi is one of the most expensive routers on the market, albeit with high-end functionality. Unfortunately, however, with the introduction of the firmware v 2.1.1.12, parental controls beyond basic filtering cost an additional $4.99 per month via Disney Circle. Even as I write this, I cannot believe that Netgear is expecting its customers to pay for functionality that other manufacturers include as standard. Shame on you NetGear - Shame on you!! TIme for we parents to move on to another manufacturer.
- Who thinks make you pay $5 monthly fee to use your router is a good idea? F Netgear. You will not be able to control your own kids internet time unless you pay a premium. They removed this feature in all their softwares to force you to buy monthly subscription on Disney Circle app. I will never buy any Netgear product again.
- 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.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.
