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Using Circle with Eero

Is anyone using the Circle device with Eero to manage children's devices on a home network? I like Eero's ability to "turn off" devices, but Circle seems to allow you to set filters on a per-device basis. Just not sure how well Circle works in general -- and, in particular, if it works with Eero.

124 replies

    • TahoeGator
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I just spent 1.5 hours with Eero tech support trying to figure out why ethernet connections through a switch connected to the gateway Eero would not work. A process of elimination led to the conclusion it was quite probably the Circle. The tech said the Circle would need to be connected to the gateway Eero directly and not via a switch. Problem is I need the switch and the Eero has only 2 ports, so it's switch or Circle (or ditch Eero for another system that has more than 2 ports). I'm dubious to reconnect the Circle and risk recreating the same problem. I plan to try Eero's features that might be similar to Circle, but what I definitely do not want to is pay the $10 per month for their content filtering service that is included in Circle, so if I don't use the Circle I give that up. I might try putting the whole Eero system (in "bridge" mode) behind another router that has more than 2 ports that itself can have both the Circle and switch connected to it. Net net, I'd be very wary of buying an Eero system if you enjoy using Circle. To the Eero engineers: please build a unit with more than 2 ports!

      • mrpme1
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      weaves It is now more than 6 months since we started having problems with Eero playing nicely with Circle.  We really like the Circle and feel that the security it offers us as parents of tweens, is fantastic.  It is also highly recommended by a few cyber safety experts that we have seen speak.  One of the features that we like is rewarding our kids with internet minutes when they have completed various chores.  We really like being able to do this individually. Or perhaps one of our kids goes above and beyond what is asked of them and we'd like to give them extra time as a little reward.  Circle allows that and it is a nice feature.

      When the Eero and the Circle were both connected, it was slowing down our work computers, not just our kids' mobile devices.  It also affected our TV, which uses internet, not cable or satellite.  That was beyond frustrating. We just didn't have these problems before we started using the eero system, and then it started only after an Eero update that is continuously not being fixed. 

      • notatechie
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jacob2877 I just bought a $500 Eero package and the extra$$ for Eero plus.  I have posted elsewhere my frustration with the skimpy parental controls.  Looking back at this forum, i am surprised at how little functionality has been added over the past 12 months.  Mine is probably going back.

      • ken91
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      weaves I did pay for the Eero plus and it doesn't even have option to block a specific site.  Also Eero Plus doesn't block mature content on sites like YouTube.  There has been request for this feature up for over a year now with no traction.  I paid $450 for the Eero device and on top of that $100 for Eero plus and it is missing basic functionality like site blacklist that I can get with a route for less than $50.  When exactly will we see this basic function?  After reading the feature request and many other posts it's seems like Eero and Eero plus was a bad choice.  I am lucky I am still within the return window.  I feel bad for people who have already made the investment.  Pretty sad that after spending $550 I still can't block a simple site but come to find out that if I want try and get the functionality from a third party there is a good chance an Eero update can make it useless. 

      • notatechie
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      ken91 I am in the same boat.  I appreciate the Eero teams customer support and consumer experience.  But after 6 weeks of trying out the Eero pro system, I could not convince myself that it was worth $450 to smooth out a few dead spots and still use opendns. So I sent mine back last week. I may try google wifi to see how their parental control/blacklist functionality works.  Maybe I will try Eero again someday.  

      • jakeandsarah
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      weaves Here is what many parents are looking for and nobody but Circle is delivering.  We need the ability to whitelist and blacklist, and otherwise filter individual devices that connect to our home network. It is crazy to me that more companies are not offering this.  It is not an uncommon use case scenario for a parent to need to turn off "gaming" websites, "Netflix" or "anything except for school website" on their son's chrome book during homework hours. I was about to purchase an Eero system but my understanding is that I actually need the Circle to do that.  Now it looks like I can't even get circle to work with Eero....spending a long time in router purchase research mode and dissappointed with what I am finding. If you have any solutions for me please reach out to me.  

    • Doug
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Yes, great to see the discussion here on a thread I started some time ago. Personally, I gave up on Circle even before eero created its own parental controls, but I'm very happy with eero Plus (the only drawback I see is what has been said -- it's an ongoing fee as opposed to Circle, which only requires a one-time hardware purchase). And kudos to weaves for joining in here!

    • TahoeGator
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Nick ( weaves ) nice of the CEO to weigh in!

    I would echo what others have said about suggested enhancements (except the "out of home" which seems too much to ask for a home wi-fi system to provide), but I would caveat them by saying the ongoing monthly fee is definitely a burden when thinking long-term. I like our Eero Pro system a lot, but I would have reservations suggesting it to someone who uses Circle on account of some of the features being held back for the subscription. That said, as the CEO of a subscription business myself, I get it. Subscription revenue is better revenue than hardware sales. 

    P.S. for those of you using Circle before, consider what we did: we didn't tell our kids it has been disconnected.

      • CEO & Co-founder
      • weaves
      • 7 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Hi TahoeGator -- the subscription pieces are because there's a lot of ongoing work to identifying problematic content and sites for parental controls. We are also working on a number of enhancements to improve the offering. We also have network security as a part of the service, which has a significant ongoing cost. All in all, we're just trying to deliver the best possible set of services (in addition to our hardware) to our customers as possible!

      Thanks for your support and feedback. 

    • skyfranks
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Eero plus allows graphic photos to still show up where Circle does not when I compared the two. When will this improve? Eero and Circle do not work together no matter what you and they may claim. My daughter can't use Roblox "because of circle" and lately she gets locked out of xbox multiplayer when it's assigned to her her circle profile so there's two devices I can't manage for her, making circle useless. That leaves Eero, but your filtering of content I don't want my 11 year old running into is severely lacking compared to circle. I can't seem to obtain the level of monitoring I need even if I'm willing to pay.

    • ericben
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi... I'm really unhappy.

    The new update to eero has broken Circle completely. Now every time I turn on the filters, it completely blocks everybody. It wasn't doing this before - just blocking certain sites like Roblox. I'm very disappointed with this whole thing.  I wonder whether it's possible to get a refund for the eero - not the service I was expecting, weaves

      • skyfranks
      • 7 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      ericben They won't help you either. I'm ready to try Orbi or Google. Circle and Eero are only interested in pointing fingers at each other. I don't have time for that. Where I work, the phrase "working as designed" is literally banned. Finding solutions is what we are told is priority for our customers. This is not what I have seen as priority from Eero or Circle. Time to move on for me as soon as I decide which one.

      • tranceme
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      skyfranks ericben  Did this ever get fixed? 

      • ericben
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      tranceme Nope - nothing worked. I can't plug the Circle directly into the eero main unit because I need the port for an ethernet hub for my house. I tried wiring it directly into other eero units, and it didn't work.

    • jaileer
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I'm quite frustrated. I purchased the eero from kickstarter - partially because of the parental filtering that was shown in the initial eero marketing video. Once eero launched - without the promised filtering capabilities - I stuck with the product because I was assured that more features were coming via software updates. So while I waited for the promised parental features I bought a Circle. It has been a frustrating experience, but it worked. Now, with the latest update, my kids' devices are useless when connected through Circle and I have to pay $100/year for eero Plus to get the features that I was promised would come standard with the eero purchase! 

    I'm aware companies need to make money to survive, but the old bait-and-switch is never a good look. I really believed in eero and it's sad that I've had to warn people away from the product because of this. I'm sure it's just coincidence that a competing filtering device stopped working shortly after eero started offering filtering services for an additional fee, but you really have to fix this issue.

    • ksupersano
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    And to add insult to injury, Circle tech is now "baked into" Netgear routers including Orbi. So no need to add an additional peripheral and all the issues that can accompany that. https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/15/circle-with-disney-on-netgear-routers/

    But since Orbi doesn't do wired backhaul, Eero won for me. I love them, just wish they could offer that additional touch of value. 

      • scooby
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      ksupersano The odd part to me is how the Netgear version of Circle is charging $4.99 per month for the premium features that are free if you buy the Circle device (currently on sale for $74). Circle Go is still an additional $4.99 per month. Eero should really partner with Circle and call it a day. Eero plus is too expensive for what it offers thus they are throwing in these freebies. I just want parental controls that work both at home and on the go.

    • Mark_Smith
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I set up my 1st Gen Eero last night and then set up my Circle.  No issues at all.  Was originally worried since it was listed and a non-supported device.  Overly happy about the wifi coverage and use of my current devices.

    • Mark.2
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Mark Smith  You will probably be fine as long as you don't update eero.  Once it updates - your dead in the water.

     

    weaves  - I have sung eero's praises to everyone who would listen, but when the last person asked me this week, I had to point them away.  Here is the communication that you get from eero when asking for help:

    Brandon (eero Customer Support)

    Thank you for contacting eero support. Upon doing some research, I found the following article below about Circle and it's compatibility with eero. It does not specifically say how to configure (at least the first few messages don't) but I do see customers that use it. Let me know if you require further assistance and I will be more than happy to help. https://community.eero.com/t/366lt9/using-circle-with-eeroThank you for being a valuable eero customer.Respectfully,Brandon Hindes

     

    When I pressed again, I got this back:

    Brandon (eero Customer Support)

    I have found some more information on eero and circle's compatibility. This came from Circle's support site. Let me know if this helps at all sir.Thanks for your interest in Circle! Unfortunately, we're aware of a serious incompatibility issue with Circle and Eero routers. With the latest Eero software (v3.5.0-312), released on October 17th 2017, we've determined that Circle's filter level settings cause overall Internet functionality to break. Specifically, you may notice setting a profile to a filter level other than "None" will cause every platform and website to fail to load, regardless of whether the site has been set as "Not Allowed". Setting the profile to the "None" filter level, or the device as "Unmanaged", will restore Internet functionality. At this time, there is no other workaround, other than switching all profiles to a "None" filter level, or disabling Circle until the problem is resolved. We are working as quickly as possible to remedy the situation and restore overall compatibility. Feel free to reach out to us using the support links below for more information.I hope you have a good day.Respectfully,Brandon Hindes

     

    So after multiple emails, I've managed to get what I already knew.

     

    Circle is a very useful device.  For me, it is far more useful than eero's $10/mo service.  Something eero did broke this functionality.  Is there anyone at eero who cares?  Is there any chance this will be resolved?

      • jaileer
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Mark I got the same bouncing around that you did. eero support says it's a Circle issue, Circle support says it's an eero issue. Finally, I sent my circle back and they gave me a refund. I appreciate the customer service from Circle, but that's not the solution that I want. eero plus does not have the functionality of Circle, even if I wanted to be extorted for $100/year. I'm not sure what the solution to this is, but it's looking increasingly likely that the solution is to ditch eero.

    • Mark_Smith
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    My Circle now is a paperweight.  I didn't update the Eero but I did put the Circle finally on the Eero Wifi. (I had it on my Linksys Wifi prior)  Looks like I'll be running a wifi network just for my son on the Linksys controlled by the Circle.  Does any one seeing any issues with running a second Wifi network under the Eero?

    • Ben_B
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I will be likely ditching my Eero too since Circle support on my router system is a must.  It offers way more support in filtering, device->user management, and guest devices and filtering than Eero Plus.  I think the Eero team would do themselves best by responding to this topic with a timeline for a fix no matter who is providing it.  Circle worked before the last Eero update - it is therefore Eero's responsibility to make sure the their system works with other highly rated filtering systems, especially when they worked before.  This is starting to feel like an anti-trust issue.

      • nnyan
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Ben B let's not get carried away.  Circle with Disney uses ARP poisoning to do it's magic.  This is not a good thing and does and will break things.  Asking any product to work with any device that is arp poison flooding your network is a loosing proposition.  I for one really need strong parental controls but I got rid of my CwD.

      • JTravers
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nnyan It may not be the most ideal way to do things, but the truth is that it works. It would be great if eero partnered with Circle to do the filtering straight from the gateway, as Netgear has done with them. 

      Here's a good post on the effects of Circle on a network. 

      https://www.snbforums.com/threads/circle-with-disney-reviewed.32464/page-2#post-369475

      • nnyan
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      JTravers 

      No doubt it's effective (although this type of solution can be flaky at times).  I thought the shared devices were handled poorly and device detection/naming stunk (FingBox is one of the best at this) but that is too common.  

      I think Unglue isn't as easy to deploy but it's effective.  I wish they still had the hardware.

      • JTravers
      • 6 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Nnyan I hadn't heard of Unglued before. Thanks for pointing it out. Do you know how it works? Is it as good at filtering and time limits as Circle?

      Thanks!

Content aside

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