Discontinued: Circle with Disney

My kids hate the Circle. Does that tell you what you need to know?It took me several tweaks before I had my Circle set up correctly, but now, two months into using it, I have come to really love it.For reference, we live in a large house with one router and two extenders (which only means that there are multiple "networks.") I have four kids, and their ages range from 7 to 14. They have iPhones, iPods, iPads, 2 Xbox consoles, Playstation3 and Playstation4. I have tried several different flavors of net-nannies and I have set up parental controls on several different routers over the years, but nothing has ever been worth the hassle of it all until this Circle. This gives me more flexibility and customization than anything I've ever used, and it is also visual (on my iPhone) so I don't need to be a computer programmer to make sense of it. REALLY, this thing is EASY. And if you need help to get it set up properly, just ask on their Facebook page because they are incredibly committed to helping people. I've never seen this degree of helpful Facebook customer service before, on any kind of product.The beautiful part of Circle is that every device that is connected to the internet automatically appears in the DEVICES for your circle. Some of them are easy to identify (e.g. "Jimmy's iPad") but some are more difficult (e.g. "HUMAX Device" or T0108000357180). I started with the things I could positively identify, and then the rest became obvious over time. Anytime a device joins the network, Circle will give you a notification. So, if you unplug and replug your Amazon Fire Stick, or put your iPhone into airplane mode and then switch it back, you'll be able to identify and label the device in your Circle.Once I figured out what each of my devices was, I assigned each one to a person. If the device was used by all of us (like the TV in the living room) I assigned it to E (for everyone). One son has an iPhone, iPad, Xbox, and another child has iTouch, iPad, and Mac. Another one has a Mac, an iPad, and an Xbox. The fourth one only has an iPad and a Fire device. Now, with devices set for each child, I can pause one kid's internet (on each of his devices) without messing up all of the other kids' internet. Also, if my son is allowed to use his computer (for homework) but not his Xbox, I can pause ONLY the Xbox, and leave everything else connected. (Also, if I have said, "No Xbox for you! One Week!" but then forgotten to actually put a pause on the Xbox. I can pull it up on my phone and see if he has turned it on.) Likewise, if I have gone to work and forgotten to turn someone's internet back on, I can easily correct that and get him back in business. The best part is that I can do all of it with an app on my phone. I can do it from the front yard, the bank, the airport, or from another state. Instantly. For me, this is where Circle REALLY earns its stars.Simply stated, Circle will allow me to pause the internet for the entire house (say for dinner). OR, it will allow me to pause the internet for one child (who's grounded) or for all the kids individually (until each one gets homework finished -- and then individually I can give wifi back to them as they earn it.)For content, there are filters. Using the settings for Filter Level, I have set up my youngest as kid, and my three older ones as teen. I am able to completely disable Youtube for my 7 year old, who was pretty addicted to Disney Collector and Family Fun Pack before Circle came along. On the Teen filter, I have the option to shut down many apps individually (e.g. Instagram, HBO, Twitter, Tumbler, Snapchat, YouTube). I can give some or all or none to each kid, INDIVIDUALLY. Separately, there is a custom option on each filter which will allow me to add in any specific website they are visiting that I don't want them to. If I click on INSIGHTS (and this is on each child's profile) I can see every website he has visited today and how much time he spent there.Time Limits have proven to be my ACE IN THE HOLE for discipline. My young teenager is now on a plan where if he doesn't cause any disruptions in the house he gets to maintain his internet time, and if he gets in trouble for something he loses an hour. WOW -- what a changed kid! It is effortless for me to change his limit (I just pull up the app on my phone) so he knows that I won't get busy and forget. For once, I have a parenting tool that is SUPER EASY for me to wield. If he does something sweet, I can bounce him up an hour. It doesn't cost me anything and it actually has a value for him.BEDTIME does just what it says. It shuts down their internet at bedtime without me having to realize the time and run around the house snatching electronics at 7:30, 8:00, 9:00 and 10:00. It allows me to let the big kids have their internet later on weekends, but still have a limit so they don't watch Netflix until 2:00 am. Week night bedtime limits can be set at a different time than weekend bedtime limits. If one child always has Thursday Night projects for school that take him past the regular bedtime, I can remove Thursdays from the bedtime limit or turn bedtime off (when he asks me about it) and then back on when he is finished, easily from my phone.My favorite part of Circle is that (now that I have it set up properly) I can easily control each device, or each child's devices from my phone with one or two clicks. I feel like it has given the power back to me. I know that there are sophisticated router setups that are also supposed to do this, but I haven't had luck with any of them. I have read reviews from people saying that they couldn't set it up, or that it crashed the entire system, and I just don't have any idea where they are going wrong, but trust me, they are doing something wrong.As an aside, the day after I set up my Circle, we had a problem with the internet and of course I blamed the Circle and unplugged it. Let me tell you that it STAYED ON. It has a battery inside, so if your kids ever get the bright idea to disable the circle and run amok on the internet, their attempts will be foiled! As it turns out, the problem with the internet was that I hadn't paid the bill (oops!) and it had nothing to do with the Circle. However, I forgot to go back and plug it in (after everything was resolved). It worked for a month before it started sending me messages on my phone that I needed to plug it back in.Also, with regard to the extenders. I thought that the Circle wouldn't work if the kids just moved from the regular router to the extenders and I believed it to be a serious flaw. However, I have since learned that if I pause the device, it doesn't matter which network the kids plug into (because the extenders feed from the actual router). The device will pause regardless of the network name.One other thing is data on the iPhone. There is a plan to control your child's data use, but I have not taken advantage of it. I realized that the MYATT app has a place where I can easily disable data, so for my one rebellious child, I just shut down his data when he's at home, and then he is forced to use the wifi, and my limits placed in Circle will keep him in check. If I want him to have data (vacation, etc.) I just turn it back on in the ATT app. If you child's device has access to data, you will only have so much control over it with Circle.Also, it is true that the iPad will allow you to block some apps and some sites. Circle isn't the ONLY way that you can get the job done. But for me, it has absolutely been the easiest.

We bought circle because our oldest and middle children (11 and 8) are needing to do more and more homework online. It seemed like a great way to regulate what they are able to see and how long they are able to work. Unfortunately, it really doesn't seem to work as billed.We've had it about 4-6 months now. Right out of the box, we had issues with connectivity. Circle would randomly disconnect and reconnect throughout the day and night, sending annoying text messages at 2 in the morning. This continued even when we plugged it into the ethernet (though that did decrease the frequency). Disabling the texts means that you cannot properly regulate internet usage (i.e. add more time if it's needed to complete homework) so that is not a great option.I was willing to live with that issue, but I found that the software really doesn't seem to work. We left the adult computers unregulated, so we had no difficulties. The problems started with my oldest daughter - it began blocking websites that it hadn't previously blocked. These were websites that she needed to access for school and after spending multiple hours over a few weeks time, I was unable to modify the settings to consistently allow her to access these websites. Or, as soon as I fixed one, something else would go wrong. Finally, I gave up and took her computer off of the network. She was too frustrated, homework was taking longer than it should, and if I wasn't home, my wife had difficulty troubleshooting. But I figured I would leave the network up so that I could regulate my middle daughter (though to be honest, this was really just me trying to make myself feel better after wasting money).Unfortunately, the same problems with my older daughter began happening to my middle daughter. It slowed and often stopped her internet connection (though devices not regulated were working fine), it blocked websites she needs for homework (and websites for an 8 y/o to practice math could never be misconstrued as malicious). Finally, I was forced to disable it.I think it's a good idea but poor execution. Very disappointing, because this really would give me peace of mind, especially since I know my older daughter will someday be interested in social media (that's the whole reason I got the thing). Perhaps there's really no way to do this right. It does seem like the internet changes so quickly that it's impossible to block out all of the bad stuff. But I do hope that something better comes along soon.Final verdict: save your money.