Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs iBwave Wi-Fi comparison

The compared Cisco and iBwave solutions aren't in the same category. Cisco is ranked #4 in Wireless LAN , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 13.1% mindshare in the category. iBwave is ranked #3 in NM , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 15.1% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of iBwave users who would recommend it.

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Read 118 Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN reviews

18,236 Views
14,660 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

iBwave Wi-Fi

Read 12 iBwave Wi-Fi reviews

1,340 Views
810 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

iBwave Wi-Fi

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 8, 2024

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and iBwave Wi-Fi compete in the wireless networking space. Cisco Meraki provides a more comprehensive solution due to its seamless integration and management tools.

Features: Cisco Meraki features cloud management, consistent security protocols, and scalability. iBwave Wi-Fi provides specialized tools for network design, predicting coverage, and capacity planning.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki could improve in offering more advanced network design tools, heatmap generation, and 3D modeling capabilities. iBwave Wi-Fi could enhance its ease of management, integration capabilities, and offer better suite of security protocols.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki offers an intuitive deployment model with extensive support options, recognized for easy setup and reliable customer service. iBwave Wi-Fi requires more technical expertise for deployment, focusing on detailed planning and integration.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki involves a higher upfront cost due to its comprehensive features but offers a good return on investment through efficient management and scalability. iBwave Wi-Fi, while potentially having a lower initial cost, emphasizes detailed network design, leading to significant long-term savings for technical needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Wireless LAN Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Wireless LAN

December 2024

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

118

Ranking in other categories

Wireless LAN (4th)

iBwave Wi-Fi

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Modeling and Simulation (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and iBwave Wi-Fi aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is designed for Wireless LAN and holds a mindshare of 13.1%, up 12.2% compared to last year.
iBwave Wi-Fi, on the other hand, focuses on Network Modeling and Simulation, holds 15.1% mindshare, up 15.0% since last year.

Wireless LAN

Network Modeling and Simulation

Featured Reviews

Mageshwaran S

Solution Architect at Bharti Airtel ·

Enables organizations to control many sites globally with a lean IT team and provides visibility into the user activities

The solution can handle only medium and small businesses. We face a bottleneck on the gateway while using the solution for large enterprises. The solution must be able to expand to larger enterprises. Currently, the MX device can support only up to 10,000 users. It would be good if it can go beyond 1 lakh users. Catalyst 9300 is coming on the Meraki Dashboard. The vendor must also bring in the 9400 and 9600 Catalyst series. It will be very helpful. We will not have any choke on the gateway. There is no active-active concept. It will be very helpful if the solution provides active-active. Now, we are doing an active-passive setup, which is a warm spare. If it is an active-active setup, the gateway bottleneck issue can be resolved. I would be able to segment the Wireless LAN IPs. It will help support 20,000 devices at a go. Meraki does not have a single dashboard. I need to port an on-premise controller. There is a bottleneck while scaling the product. I need to consider a lot of things.

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Gopi R S

Senior Radio Frequncy DAS Design Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

Enhanced accuracy in design projects with advanced three-dimensional modeling and great support

I am using iBwave Wi-Fi for a project where we are designing on campus. It is used for large venue designs such as a university campus, and my work involves optimizing and validating the designs for accuracy before site surveys Using iBwave Wi-Fi, I am able to provide more accurate results for…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The emailing of statuses is the most valuable feature."

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

"Its ease of use and flexibility are most valuable. It is cloud-based software."

"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."

"The settings of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN can be very granular. You can lock down and block devices with the controls. For example, we have four different wireless settings, such as guest, employee, security, and backup. For example, the settings for the employees, if they use laptops, they're required to have certain settings, such as an antivirus installed. If they do not then Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN will not let them connect. This is very good protection because the network works on the bringing your own device(BYOD) principle. It's a BYOD environment now, and you also don't want them to bring infection into the environment because these people are connecting to the LAN via wireless connections. We have to be careful because we're managing it, we have to be very strict with regards to the rules and policies."

"We use the solution's bandwidth shaping, URL filtering, and group policy configuration features."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"There are many valuable features of Cisco Meraki, including the switches, stacking, and layer 3 routing."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pros

"The stability and feature set of the application are top notch and can't be matched."

"The solution's 3D imaging is amazing."

"The most valuable features of iBwave Wi-Fi include the critical three dimensional modeling capabilities, which are necessary for tasks like locating access points, determining their height, and cable routing."

"Compared to other tools, iBwave Wi-Fi provides 95% accuracy and generates heatmaps."

"I find the high-quality Heatmap generation, multi-floor, and wire mapping features to be most valuable."

"It can speed up design."

"iBwave Wi-Fi's tech support is great. They pick up their phones. I have no complaints."

"The 3D Coverage is a good feature that shows the signal propagation in three dimensions."

Cons

"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."

"There is only one particular thing that needs improvement. Sometimes, for example, when you need to open a ticket, although it's under the umbrella of Cisco, you still need to go to the Meraki support."

"Its price could be improved."

"The customization needs to be improved because it's pretty locked down."

"Despite being enabled, I've encountered an issue where the alert main dashboard fails to detect when any of the devices go down. Hence, the tool's notification feature should improve. We have also faced issues with integration."

"There should be better Spanish-language technical support."

"The user interface needs to be improved."

"The integration options with third-party applications need enhancement."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN cons

"It would do iBwave well to become more involved with their clients."

"The cost of the solution could be improved. It's extraordinarily expensive."

"iBwave Wi-Fi doesn't have a distributor feed platform."

"I am currently looking for an alternative due to my reluctance with the reliability of this product."

"Areas of improvement would include more functionality in the Mobile App, expanded reporting features, and some shortcut features."

"I would like to be able to see two buildings at the same time so that you can create a campus view."

"It would be good if we could involve a visual while designing the backhaul."

"iBwave Wi-Fi could be improved by adding a plot for overall improvement, allowing us to see where we are failing in design parameters, similar to features in Ekahau."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I haven't conducted a price comparison yet, but based on information, it appears to be more affordable than the current environment. Therefore, I consider the price to be reasonable."

"It's a pretty good value, but not great. Pricing is on a yearly basis for the Meraki solution."

"It is a relatively expensive solution compared to traditional network alternatives."

"The cost of both the hardware and licensing is high, and it is more than what I would prefer to spend currently."

"Cisco Meraki requires either a one year or three year license for a standard enterprise license."

"The platform is expensive."

"I would say that they have adequate pricing."

"The box itself is very cheap. The question here is about the subscription because this is what you will pay every year. In the initial year, for purchasing, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN gives you an attractive price. While during renewal, we are not given much discount."

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN pricing and cost advice

"The solution's pricing is cheap."

"I advise others to treat the cost as you would any tooling cost and use the monthly option as needed."

"iBwave Wi-Fi is an expensive solution, but it is worth the cost."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?

Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...

See all answers

Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...

See all answers

How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?

Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...

See all answers

What do you like most about iBwave Wi-Fi?

Compared to other tools, iBwave Wi-Fi provides 95% accuracy and generates heatmaps.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iBwave Wi-Fi?

Both iBwave Wi-Fi and Ekahau are costly tools. They're considered high in cost because the license needs to be renewed yearly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with iBwave Wi-Fi?

iBwave Wi-Fi could be improved by adding a plot for overall improvement, allowing us to see where we are failing in design parameters, similar to features in Ekahau.

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 32% of the time

Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 18% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 10% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 7% of the time

Mist AI and Cloud vs Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN Competitors

Ekahau Site Survey vs iBwave Wi-Fi

Compared 72% of the time

AirMagnet Survey vs iBwave Wi-Fi

Compared 9% of the time

RedSeal vs iBwave Wi-Fi

Compared 8% of the time

Forsk Atoll vs iBwave Wi-Fi

Compared 8% of the time

More iBwave Wi-Fi Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN

January 2025

Download Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Network Modeling and Simulation

December 2024

Download iBwave Wi-Fi product report

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN

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Cisco

iBwave

Overview

Cisco Meraki access points are built from the highest grade components and carefully optimized for a seamless user experience. The outcome: faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage, and fewer support calls. The Cisco Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices, and their applications. Armed with rich analytics, administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies, optimizing both the end-user experience and network security.

iBwave has been the industry standard software for designing indoor wireless network for over 13 years. Used by hundreds of operators, OEMs, enterprises and system integrators around the world. The iBwave Wi-Fi Suite is a powerful Wi-Fi network design solution that gives you a significantly more productive way to design carrier-grade indoor Wi-Fi networks. Consisting of a mobile app, a powerful PC based software and 10GB of cloud connectivity to easily share and synchronize project information.

Key Features include:

Advanced 3D Predictive design
Advanced capacity planning
Calibrated prediction for extremely accurate prediction results
Ability to model incline surfaces
Comprehensive reporting
Cloud connectivity to easily share and access projects anytime
Free read-only project viewer for customers and project partners

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins

ARRIS

Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ruckus, Cisco and others in Wireless LAN. Updated: December 2024.

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We monitor all Wireless LAN reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.