Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Reviews

The last company I was working for did an overall network revamp project where they replaced all of the access points, switches, and firewalls. We replaced all the aging equipment with new ones including Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN solutions.

The automatic VMware update is very useful because you don't have to worry about outages and planning for VMware updates. It is very advantageous from a management point of view. The ability to restrict and review the clients connected to each of our segments. Additionally, the solution is easy to use.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN could improve by having more granularity in terms of the data displayed. However, I understand that with Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, you need to have a compromise point to what are the functions that you're going to provide to the users versus ease of use. More granularity in terms of the data and the things that you can do to the devices would be helpful. For example, when we wanted to make a change, restriction, or segregation within Palo Alto, we can go to the level of detail that we want. The amount of detail provided is amazing, it is very granular. However, it comes with much more difficulty, it requires a technical understanding of the environment compared to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN. 

I used Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN within the past 12 months.

I have not used the technical support because the equipment was new.

We used other vendor devices previously, such as Dell PowerConnect. We were looking for a solution that was easier to configure and maintain while not compromising the visibility of our environment. That's why we chose the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN solutions because they have user-friendly dashboards to use the equipment and at the same time, it does provide the visibility that we needed to control our traffic in all our branches. 

When you are deploying equipment in remote areas where you don't have many employees having a cloud dashboard where you can make changes to your equipment easily is a large benefit. Having a centralized, single pane of glass dashboard where you can manage all your equipment in one place has been helpful.

The initial setup was very easy considering it is a Cisco solution.

It took us approximately two to three weeks, to migrate small branches which were quite fast. We hadn't migrated the head office systems when I left the company but that implementation would have been more complicated because that's where the data center is involved.

We hired a network architect as a consultant and that team helped us do the whole migration and implementation. When we were doing the setup of switching and the access points, it require a lot less preparation because of its ease of use. Other solutions, such as Palo Alto, required a lot more planning.

We have 12 branches and our head office and we use one person for marinating and supporting the solution. However, we did outsource the support, we pay annually for support from a third-party company that helps us maintain our equipment. They are on call if we need them.

I rate Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN an eight out of ten.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN was easy to deploy and use, it gives us the functionality that we need to maintain our infrastructure functions, and at the same time, it does provide the security that everybody's looking for these days. We did replace the firewalls with Palo Alto, which gives us another layer of security because Palo Alto's very good in that regard.

The dashboard to keep track of 30 or so APs, switches, routers and logs, is invaluable. I liked the UX on this.

Notifications (minus the techno-speak so it's obvious what the problem is) help us respond to access points down or rogue access points attempting connections.

Tracking the usage of staff, access points, switches and routers becomes an insanely easy thing and so do producing reports for your Exec team.

Splash screens for T&C sign off by users are very easy to implement - it takes about 30 seconds to put a splash screen up. RADIUS and SSO are possible with similar ease.

Networks can be segmented into SSIDs very easily for those needing to provided users, office, POS, Events, etc, with seperated access. You can then monitor the usage down to a single MAC address for great granularity.

Reporting is easy - press two buttons et viola!

It's cut down the amount of time administering an expansive WiFi network spread over 43 acres.

We can easily monitor the up/down time so establishing KPIs and SLAs for the IT department becomes something attainable.

Adding APs is a very simple process. Plug in. Turn on. Meshes with the existing network. In an emergency, almost anyone can do it.

The error logs need to be much more comprehensive.

4 years

There can be problems if using older POS devices, WiFi APs, and you have a lot of people with mobiles around. So, say, a large event. The mix of signals can kill the WiFi APs and then you are left hard wiring "mobile" tills. Be aware if you're carrying old equipment.

Good.

Very good. Some times the odd problem may drag and require a dog-with-a-bone approach but that's the same everywhere.

Negotiate the deal put in front of you!

We primarily use the solution for our campus environment.

The solution has worked very well in our campus environment. 

The solution has proven itself to be very stable so far.

The product is very easy to use.

The initial setup is very straightforward and easy.

We've found the connectivity to be excellent.

We would like the solution to work on the pricing of the solution. It would be ideal if it could bring the overall costs down.

We haven't even used the solution for a year yet. We've used it for about six months or so. It hasn't been that long just yet.

The stability is very good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. It's been good so far.

The solution can scale quite well. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so fairly easily.

We currently use the solution in order to cover 500 users at our company.

Our company does plan to increase usage in the future.

Technical support has been fine. We've found them to be helpful and responsive. We're satisfied with the level of support we receive.

The installation was very straightforward, from what I recall. A company shouldn't have any trouble with the initial setup. It's not overly complex or difficult. 

The deployment is pretty fast. It only took us about two hours or so. 

We did not need the assistance of a consultant or integrator. We handled the initial implementation ourselves. We handled it in-house.

The pricing could be cheaper. It's the one pain point.

We pay a monthly fee.

We are using the latest version of the solution. I can't speak to the actual version number.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We haven't used it for that long, however, we have been quite satisfied with its overall capabilities.

I'd recommend the solution to other organizations and users.

They were for our Sheriff's department.

What I liked about these is that they worked. I didn't touch them or do anything with them. They were up and running when I came here. Once they are set up and running, you don't have to worry about them.

It is expensive. Juniper seems to have a lot more to offer for future expansion. Juniper has some features that are not there in this solution.

It has been over three years.

They have been very stable. We didn't see any issues.

I didn't have to scale it. We had 26 users. They included secretaries and deputies to Sheriff.

I never used them. I never had to.

They were set up before I got here.

It is expensive.

I would advise others to take a look at Juniper. We were using Cisco Meraki devices, but they are kind of end-of-life. We're changing our systems because of a policy change about the use of wireless solutions. So, we don't need them anymore. Juniper seems to have a lot more to offer for future expansion.

I would rate Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN a nine out of ten. It works well.

The solution is very easy to use. The user interface is very nice.

There are really great dashboards available. Users can see everything they need to on one pane of glass.

Users have the capability of capturing business insights on the solution. For example, we can see who uses the WiFi or monitor movement.

The solution should be open to introducing more IoT sensors and to have a more complete solution to medium-sized customers.

The solution could saturate more of the market, as likely 80% of the market would like to see more simple solutions such as Meraki.

It would be ideal if you didn't necessarily have to go to professionals to get a product like this. It should be sold more in the retail space. 

It would be great if the solution could integrate with Amazon Alexa. We'd be able to leverage Meraki and build more intelligent homes and businesses. It would help us build new items we could deliver to our clients, and to build better B2C relations.

It would be nice to have licensing that stays in place while the system is being renovated or changed. If there was a way to have remote WiFi to support local connections during issues, so that technical support doesn't have to shut down the entire network, that would be great. If there was something like a robot that could continue running the network while there are licensing or technical issues, so that WiFi never goes down, that would be an ideal situation.

We used to sell other Cisco solutions, however, now we only really focus on Meraki.

The solution from Meraki is more public cloud, however, if we need to we have an internal team that manages alarms, and coordinates action zone disputes to changes devices when it is needed, and have support to our customers.

We have partners that can sell the solution to us, and we in turn offer them to our clients. We're similar to a reseller.

In general, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

The Dashboard, with its centralized "cloud" interface is the most valuable feature of Meraki. If you are a smaller organization, have a small IT staff, and/or basic wireless needs Meraki provides the perfect solution. That is not to say that larger more educated organizations might not also find Meraki to be a great fit.

We use Meraki as a managed service provider for several clients that found the product and price a fit for their organization.

One of the virtues of the product could possibly be viewed as an achilles heel. The product is straightforward and does not have lots of features and fine tuning available vendors such as Cisco and Aruba. Some may be available when unlocked by Meraki TAC, but the product is not as feature rich as non-cloud offerings. This may be viewed as a positive by many users that do not want the complexity that comes with the extra features.

I have been certified and used this product for 3 years.

Very few issues. TAC works well with standard requests. If one needs something very advanced and rarely needed the TAC has difficulty escalating quickly.

The product is completely stable in our implementations.

The Meraki products scale quite well by allowing multiple organization with subdivisions of "networks" APs can be added to networks and tagged with other information as well. I would say that it works best for organizations with many diverse locations with smaller numbers of APs.

I would say that customer service is an 8/10

For basic technical support I give a 9/10. Once in the BETA program Irate Meraki a 10/10. The area in between basic support and "white glove" BETA program support is a little rough as I think most Meraki users keep things simple.

My company implements Cisco and Meraki and are certified for both. As I am also Aruba certified we occasionally service Aruba implementations.

Setup is very straightforward. The GUI is very intuitive.

We are the vendor doing the implementation and often maintenance/monitoring.

Pricing is directly tied to licensing. Longer terms are a better value than shorter ones, but the customer needs to determine which options is best.

yes we evaluated all the competition.

The Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is hosted on the cloud. Users enjoy all the features available on the platform, and it facilitates seamless communication for our business operations. Integrating with the router, firewall, and Wireless Controller is advantageous.

The solution could be cheaper.

I have been using Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN for more than 2 years.

The product is stable. It is working well.

The solution’s scalability is good.

Around 20 customers are using this solution.

Technical support is good.

The initial setup is easy and takes 10-30 minutes with zero IP deployment.

It also depends on the customer's requirements. Whether it's a small or large project, the system can accommodate various sizes. LAN configurations have been implemented for better connectivity. One employee can do the deployment.

There are two values, but the first one is that the network demands more. However, the current value lies in using advanced technology. Additionally, its ease of use and deployment facilitates creating a profile of a beneficial customer.

The market is competitive. Customers do not have much money to invest. However, we have a new solution. We are looking for McAfee share.

In Vietnam, the license policy is yearly, which could be one year, three years, or five years.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

My customer wanted to configure the solution as Wi-Fi instead of a firewall service.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is a user-friendly solution that has good performance and stability.

The solution's pricing could be improved.

I have been using Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN for two years.

I don't recall facing any bugs with Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, but the patches are done remotely.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is a scalable solution.

It was easy to deploy the solution. We had some help from the support team, making it easier to deploy the solution.

I read the document for a day and deployed it the next day.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is an expensive solution.

Users with a big budget should go with Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN. Customers with a low budget can choose Meraki Go, which is less costly than Cisco Meraki and does not require any license.

Cisco Meraki has physical boxes for centralized cloud management. If we are talking about a dashboard, we can configure location-wise, which will be called a network. In an organization, for each location, we can create a new network where it will be managed centrally. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN alone does not give security. In every company, the front-end will be firewalls, which will take care of the compliance part.

Overall, I rate Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN a nine out of ten.