I used to use circle for parental control for my old netgear wifi router. Recently switched to MR60 Mesh but couldn't find any parental control features.
I purchased MR60 thinking it had parental controls like the other Netgear routers. I'm looking at returning it where I purchased it as the primary reason why I purchased it was to limit access.
I was told by Netgear technical support the reason the router doesn't have parental controls is because the router is too new. They said since the router is only 2 months old the engineers haven't had time to get it supported for parental controls. They do have plans to offer parental controls through CIRCLE, but it is not available yet. Parental Controls is part of the reason I bought a Netgear Nighthawk Router.
Any addiontional word on this. Hard to belive they dont have basic time limits and bedtimes on the this set-up. Even my terrible (former) comcast modem/router had this ability.
Just purchased this to replace R8000, but when I set it up I saw no way for parental controls, or even site blocking by device/IP. Without concrete plans for these features it makes this product unuseable in a household with teens. Any word on timing or does this need to go back to the store?
I also just purchased the Nighthawk MR60 3-pack from Costco. I was very disappointed to see no parental controls available. My old Asus RT-AC68U had these features years ago.
Is there any timing on when or if these features will be added?
I am currently exploring parental controls with the mesh router and from what I can see, the move not to include parental controls was Netgears play to not invest and go third party. Parental controls within the router is more of a feature and just adds value to the product. The legacy parental controls were built around computers and devices on a network, however doesn't offer any protection for mobile devices. I think with this latest product, Netgear would have to shift more to a app/software provider rather than hardware.
After my researching the circle hardware and app, this fills the gap between router (control of devices on that network) and mobile devices that leave the network. It leaves me decide on if $120 per year worth full control of all devices within my household. I am leaning towards it is.
