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Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

I have the Orbi RBR20 with three RBW30's attached throughout the house. We use Circle to limit the kids time on the devices. The internet connection wasn't good enough for gaming though, so I bought a Powerline 2000 and connected it to my kids Playstation and another to the other kids computer. Now neither device shows up on the Circle network and I cannot limit their usage or put any resitrictions on the cintent they can access. Am I missing something simple here? How can I get their devices back on the Circle network so I can monitor and limit content?

Model: RBR20|Orbi AC2200 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 17
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

Please post about this in the Circle app forum:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Circle-Smart-Parental-Controls/bd-p/en-home-circle
Good Luck

Message 2 of 17
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

@FURRYe38is correct that Disney Circle is not something that most of us who participate in this forum have much experience with. (In my case, I have never activated Circle.)

 

One place to start might be how Circle identifies each user device.  by IP address?  by MAC address?  by some file that is put on the user device?  (see how little I know?)  Maybe the Powerline 2000 has changed the way these devices appear on the network.  (I know, for example, that the Netgear EX3700 Extender creates fake MAC addresses for devices when the connect.  Messed up my device IP assignment table completly until I found those new MAC addresses.)

 

It should not be too hard to connect one of these devices directly to the Orbi, open Attached Devices and see how it is described. Then, connect it to the Powerline and see if anything has changed.

Message 3 of 17

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

Thanks for the suggestion, however, it makes no difference how they are connected into the system (unless it's completely wifi), these two devices don't even show up in the list of devices on Circle. Circle uses the MAC address of the device. It's almost like the Powerline device completelt masks the visibility.

Message 4 of 17
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

I would remove the power line devices to check to see if the other devices then show up in Circle, if they do, then the issue is with the powerline devices. Someting to discuss with the Mfr of the PL devices. 


@dbriankessler wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion, however, it makes no difference how they are connected into the system (unless it's completely wifi), these two devices don't even show up in the list of devices on Circle. Circle uses the MAC address of the device. It's almost like the Powerline device completelt masks the visibility.


 

Message 5 of 17

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

The Powerline 2000 device is a Netgear product.
Message 6 of 17
DatabaseJase
Luminary

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

Where have you plugged the Powerline adaptor that provides access to the Internet?  Make sure the ethernet cable from the Powerline is connected directly to the Orbi Router and NOT a router that is connected to your broadband connection (ISP).  It seems like you are bypassing the Orbi in which case Circle can't filter the connections.

 

You might also find that if the wireless backhaul of the Orbi devices isn't providing enough bandwidth then you might be able to use the Powerline adaptors as a way to provide a wired backhaul.  That is how our RBK53 system is setup although using a different manufacturer for the Powerline adaptors...

 

Magic 2 LAN: magical internet socket | devolo AG

Magic 2 LAN triple with Powerline technology | devolo AG

 

These provide enough bandwidth that easily exceeds the devices we use plus Cirle introduces such a reduction in throughput that again the Powerline adaptors easily match or exceed the wireless backhaul Orbi can provide.

Message 7 of 17
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

Also post about this over in the Power Line forum. 


@dbriankessler wrote:
The Powerline 2000 device is a Netgear product.

 

Message 8 of 17

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed


@DatabaseJase wrote:

Where have you plugged the Powerline adaptor that provides access to the Internet? 

 

I've tried it both ways. When I initially plugged everything up, the computer would show up on the network with the same MAC address. I would add it as I should have. Then once it disconnected, then reconnected again (on power-up), it was as if it was a brand new device. It had the same MAC and computer name, except the name had some thing like "-1", "-2", etc added to the end. Then, mysteriously, that computer disappeared from the list, and now it's just connected all the time, and unmanageable through Circle.

Message 9 of 17
DatabaseJase
Luminary

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

Sounds like it is something the Netgear Powerline devices are doing then as has already been suggested.

 

I realise this doesn't help you directly but I can confirm that Devolo devices work for us without interferrng with Circle.  The Develo devices have their own IP address assigned by the Orbi using DHCP and those IP addressses also appears in Circle which we have just put into "unmanaged". 

 

I'm sure you don't want to spend any more money on this. Hope you find a solution.

Message 10 of 17

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

Thanks for the info. I changed some connections and currently, Circle seems to be picking up, and managing each device. Maybe I had connected something incorrectly to begin with when adding the Powerline devices. I will continue to monitor that and report back if there is any change, or after a week or so if everything continues to work properly.

Message 11 of 17

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

A few days later and one computer changes it's MAC every time it connects. And neither Playstation shows up on Circle either. Kind of frustrating.

Message 12 of 17

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed


@DatabaseJase wrote:

Sounds like it is something the Netgear Powerline devices are doing then as has already been suggested.

 

I realise this doesn't help you directly but I can confirm that Devolo devices work for us without interferrng with Circle.  The Develo devices have their own IP address assigned by the Orbi using DHCP and those IP addressses also appears in Circle which we have just put into "unmanaged". 

 

I'm sure you don't want to spend any more money on this. Hope you find a solution.


Are your devices connected to the Devolo by wire, or wifi only? Would this make any difference in speeds for gaming consoles and the ability to monitor/control them with Circle?

Message 13 of 17

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

So yeah, nevermind, it looks like Devolo is just for that weird European type electricity. 🙂

Message 14 of 17
DatabaseJase
Luminary

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

I never realised that Devolo wasn't available/worked in the US.

 

As I suggested I'd look into using the Netgear Powerline devices as wired backhaul for the Orbi satellites as that way it doesn't matter what they are doing with MAC addresses as the devices connecting to Orbi would function as normal.  If the broadband connection is fast enough for gaming then the issue is most likely the speed/reliability of the Orbi wireless backhaul.

Message 15 of 17

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed


@DatabaseJase wrote:

I never realised that Devolo wasn't available/worked in the US.

 

As I suggested I'd look into using the Netgear Powerline devices as wired backhaul for the Orbi satellites as that way it doesn't matter what they are doing with MAC addresses as the devices connecting to Orbi would function as normal.  If the broadband connection is fast enough for gaming then the issue is most likely the speed/reliability of the Orbi wireless backhaul.


I appreciate the suggestions, I really do, but I haven't the first clue on how to even accomplish that. I'm not a guy who has the patience or the know-how to set that up. I mean, simple, step by step instructions is one thing, but "you should just do this" is above my pay grade. Don't take offense to that. I'm actually smiling as I type this. That's why I bought the Orbi system in the first place- simple plug and play. It was great until we (apparently) began trying to feed too much data through and then discovered that it was out of date, making adding satellites next to impossible since they aren't in production anymore. I'm willing to try anything before buying an updated system, but I don't have the knowledge to simply, make it happen.

Message 16 of 17
DatabaseJase
Luminary

Re: Orbi, Circle, and Powerline 2000 help needed

No need to apologise and of course we all have different levels of experience. That's why friendly forums like this exist. 🙂

 

This is our setup which hopefully will help you configure yours.

 

RBR50 connected to Devolo 1 via Ethernet Cable

RBS50 connected to Devolo 2 via Ethernet Cable

RBS50 connected to Devolo 3 via Ethernet Cable

 

So plugging a network/ethernet cable into an Orbi network port and the other end into your Netgear Powerline ethernet port on each Orbi should be enough for the Orbi to detect that it can communicate with each node via the Powerline (Orbi doesn't know that it's Powerline it just sees the ethernet connection going from the Orbi ethernet port to the Netgear ethernet port) and switch to wired backhaul automatically.

 

I can say that this was all I had to do but my experience is with Devolo which seem to work differently to the Netgear devices you have. So you may not see the same results but in terms of setting things up it should just be a case of connecting an Orbi to the Netgear via ethernet cable.

 

You should see Orbi is using wired backhaul in the Orbi App.  I'd suggest connecting the router and one satellite first and let us know how you get on.

 

 

Message 17 of 17
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