Hi  @Madhav,

Rather than me trying to explain everything, here are the links to the pages offering the feature sets for each option and the compatible systems. 

HomeShield: https://www.tp-link.com/us/homeshield/

HomeCare: https://www.tp-link.com/us/homecare/

Let me know if you have any further questions after taking a look at these pages.

  @TWC50,

The two services were operated by separate security companies; the shift to HomeShield allows our teams to develop more in-depth features and functionality, all the while increasing the security of the device. We always welcome feedback of what should and should not be behind the paywall. There are a lot of features that are included with Pro Subscription that many people do not realize, such as Real-Time IoT Protection;  DDoS attacks and port scanning protection; time awards, Offtime/traffic Statistics features.

Keep an eye out for announcements regarding HomeShield in the near future, as I have been pushing request after request through to the project team.

To help gauge the sentiment if you don't mind

What features of the service do you think should honestly be moved to the free tier?

What price do you think the service is worth?

Are there certain features that you believe should remain in the Paid Tier?

  @KnobbyVas,

I believe that the Homeshield service is tied to the hardware version, not the firmware version, so a firmware downgrade would still not show HomeCare. I would recommend checking out the video from CES about the new HomeShield 3.0 service, which is bringing far more finite control over the devices on your network. HomeShield 3.0 Video Link. This will most likely bring the features you are looking for, plus a thousand more. 

What were the specific parental control features that you were looking for/expected(time of use, site blocking, scheduling)? I may still recommend to the team to move specific features to the free tier, if it seems to be expected as a free feature.

  @BartBart,

Most of the HomeCare services have been phased out in favor of the more flexible and secure service provided through HomeShield. The features provided in HomeShield are far beyond what the HomeCare Services could provide; and serves add many additional protections that were otherwise unguarded under HomeCare.

The HomeShield Service is also about to receive a MAJOR update that brings even more parental controls and network restrictions for both clients and the network. One of these updates is actually the ability to establish multiple bed times, and periods of downtime throughout the week differing by days.

You can see a comparison of the current features for each plan here: HomeShield Splash Page

Are there any other specific features that you were expecting to see in the free tier of Homeshield? I can pass this feedback to our team to help them make decisions on how to organize the tiers and features.

Hey @gtaugh,

Are you talking about the time control features found under Parental Controls? There are a few different time-based features found throughout the interface now, such as LED control, or the wifi scheduling featuring just starting to arrive to models.

There are a lot of other protection and security features that were added to HomeShield from HomeCare, such as IoT Protection, and Real-Time Protection.

I do know that there are a lot of developments being made to HomeShield in the next few months, so now is definitely the time to make requests. Our team has always been interested in knowing what features you feel should be moved to the free tier, so I would be more than happy to forward the request to the team.