Meraki MS Switches Reviews

I am a Solutions Architect. I work in presales. We make projects with our customers and then provide the solutions. We position the MS Switches. If the company changes from 24 ports to 48, for example, I will see that. I am also aware of when licenses are renewed.

Meraki MS Switches are used with the PoE version together with an access point. The solution is most common in the access layer. 

My clients value the application visibility of this solution. For example, for the Layer 2 switch, our customers are able to see not only the wireless aspect, but its cloud management.

The price of Meraki MS Switches should come down, particularly for the Layer 3 switch, which is the most expensive switch. 

Because we have Wi-Fi 6, which is 2.5 or sometimes 5 Gigabits, we want the biggest ports in the lowest, entry-level switch. Sometimes we have to provision the equipment because there are some gaps.

I would like to see improvements to the dark mode in the next release, as I prefer the dark mode.

I have been using Meraki MS Switches for more than four years.

The product is stable, however, after we closed the project, our clients reported that they had some problems. 

Meraki MS Switches is scalable. Buy the licenses, and then plug them into the network.

I require technical support when I need information regarding the product during presales. They meet my expectations and answer with clear and thorough information.

I would rate technical support a five out of five overall.

Positive

The initial setup of this cloud based solution is very easy.

Meraki MS Switches is easy to use and implement. The solution has good support, functions, and features.

I would rate this solution a nine out of 10.

We are a technology consultant and we work with a variety of products, including Meraki MS Switches. We have installed these switches in certain hotels in Egypt.

One of the hotels we work with has standardized on Meraki.

Meraki's support for outdoor switches is something that we're facing problems with. This is an area that needs to be improved.

Meraki should include an application to assist users with the design of access points.

We have been working with Meraki MS Switches for perhaps two years.

This is a good switch for a small installation, such as a hotel, but it's not an enterprise-level solution. In that regard, it is not very scalable.

The hotel network has almost 300 rooms.

We have no problem with technical support from Cisco. They have good support, although it's not cheap. 

We have experience with switches from different vendors including Cisco and HP.

HPE Aruba is very popular in my country, and we have done a lot of these installations. Most people, given the choice between Aruba and Cisco, choose to implement Aruba.

One of the advantages to Aruba is that the switches have a lifetime warranty. They are also cheaper than Cisco.

We have not faced any problems with respect to installation. They just need internet connectivity for the cloud configuration.

Installation is done by the system integrators.

Meraki is not an expensive switch, like Cisco. However, the cost of technical support is expensive.

We have researched different Cisco solutions. One of the things that we have found is that Stealthwatch for Cisco has the sensors built into the switches. We are interested in knowing whether that feature is compatible with other hardware because we don't want to be tied to a single vendor.

Some companies in Egypt are not allowed to use cloud-based services, so the use of this type of product has not been popular.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

I use it in conjunction with Meraki Firewall and Meraki AP as a package. I am using the latest version of this solution.

We mainly replaced a number of Cisco ASA 5505 Firewalls that had PoE on them. The new Cisco ASA 5506 Firewall and Meraki MX Firewall don't have PoE, but we needed ports and PoE. Therefore, we combined the switches with the firewalls. The clients already had Meraki APs, so we just plugged in Meraki switches. 

The improvements are mainly from the help desk perspective. It has been very useful for the help desk. Previously, the whole setup was Cisco. It was Cisco ASA 5505, so there was no real GUI. We only had the command-line interface to go in and look at it. Now we can look at the entire location in one piece on the dashboard.

A lot of our customers are small to medium businesses, doctors, and lawyers. The Meraki dashboard allows our help desk to quickly view a customer's location.

It is easy to deploy, maintain, and update. It has been trouble-free so far.

I am still a Cisco command-line bigot, but the web interface makes it a lot easier for our help desk to interact with a client. When the clients call in and say that they aren't able to connect, it takes the help desk 10 minutes or less to look at everything in the enterprise or location. They can look at the firewall, switches, or access points in the dashboard. That's why I like the dashboard.

It would be good to include the command-line access someday.

I have been using this solution for a year and a half at the most.

It has been stable so far. I haven't had any problems. 

Its scalability is good. It is good for small and medium businesses and locations. They can scale up to good throughput. 

In terms of the number of users, all employees of a client are the users of this solution. All PCs are plugged into Meraki. All wireless devices are coming through them.

I had to call them a number of times. I always got great support from Meraki. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

We mainly used Cisco products, which could be managed only by using the command-line interface. We switched mainly because of the dashboard. 

If I am going to put something in the enterprise, I'll go with a full Cisco switch. If you buy the full Cisco switch, it comes with a lot of features. I won't put a Meraki switch on top of the rack of a whole enterprise or a whole bunch of blade servers kind of setup. Meraki is great for small and medium businesses and locations.

The initial setup is easy. I can send Meraki Firewall, Meraki AP, and Meraki Switch to a client and have them plug these in. They'll pop up in the dashboard as long as you've done a few things correctly. I can customize a switch in England from Upstate New York. This is what is great. You cannot do this with a full-blown Cisco switch. You have to configure it, put it in a box, put the tray, and roll with Meraki.

Its price is definitely competitive.

I would recommend this solution. It is easy to deploy. You can put it in a box or have it shipped to a client's remote location. Even if they don't know anything, you can talk to them and set it up easily.

I would rate Meraki MS Switches a nine out of ten. I am very happy with all Meraki products that I use. 

We used Meraki Switches primarily for firewalling.

They help us provide reliable solutions to other customers as system integrators.

The reliability and ease of configuration are good. I very seldom receive complaints about the switches.

The GUI can be improved for a better comfort level.

We have been using Meraki Switches for more than seven or eight years.

The product has always catered to the specifications, and we haven't had any complaints about it.

Scalability is not a problem. We have it on-premises, and it is easy to scale.

Sometimes, we don't get support. That depends on the product warranty and support conditions. As a system integrator, I rate it a six out of ten as I can't raise any tickets without procuring equipment in my name.

Positive

We have worked with Sophos.

It is easy to install and usually requires just one technician.

One technician is usually enough for the installation. We manage the implementation ourselves as system integrators.

As a system integrator, we don't have that parameter for our markings. Return on investment is not applicable to us.

Compared to other products in the market, it is always expensive.

I am not sure about other solutions besides Meraki and Sophos.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

These switches are best used in mid-size businesses for access and collapsed distribution/core switching. They offer both layer 2 and layer 3 models and have a well-rounded switch feature set for a switch line. Overall, we have found them to meet just about every need we want in a switch. We have them as 10-GB solutions for high-speed SAN connectivity all the way down to 8-port solutions in some high-end homes. They offer ACLs, LACP, port security, access policies, and DHCP security, to name a few options. The methods that Meraki has chosen to implement some of these features via the cloud is amazingly simple to manage compared to locally managed solutions.

For MSPs, a cloud-managed solution is so much more efficient than a locally managed solution, and having a single pane of glass with Meraki's dashboard is an easy-to-use solution. It is simple to switch between managing wireless, security appliances, and switches on the dashboard if all three Meraki solutions are implemented. This simplifies the management process and allows the granular control of the devices or in some cases global control of all ports. Change management is built-in (who did what) and sorely missing in locally managed solutions. Additionally, you can manage switch ports across multiple devices all at the same time. Adding a new VLAN to all trunk ports in the organization is simple with tags selecting all trunk ports and adding the new VLAN by number.

Setting up a switch can be performed prior to having your hands on the device. Once you purchase a Meraki switch you will get an email from Meraki with a code to add to your dashboard and then you can start setting up your switch so when it arrives it will download its configuration and be all set up. It is practically a zero-touch deployment. Firmware upgrades on devices are pushed from the cloud and typically only bring the device down for a minute or two while applied. The built-in packet capture on them allows easier troubleshooting even when you are not onsite. They even allow you to create staged upgrade plans so you can schedule which switches upgrade in order to minimize downtime.

Meraki MS switches are great for pretty much all SMB networks and most enterprise networks. However, there are some higher-end functions that larger enterprise networks with full access, distribution, and core switch stack may find limiting.

One of the most challenging things to get used to is the delay in the time it takes for changes to be implemented. With a locally managed switch, you make a change and it is pretty much immediate. With the nature of cloud management, you make a change and it may take one to three minutes before that change makes its way to the device and takes effect. It's not a problem once you get used to it but when we first started working with Meraki, I found myself making a change and immediately assuming it didn't work so I would change it again. A little patience is your friend when making changes. They have a field on the dashboard that lets you know when the config is up to date so that makes it easy to know when you can start testing your change(s). I'm not sure if this delay could be reduced or not by prioritizing communication but it is by no means a show-stopper. They warn you when you are about to make changes to the uplink path of a device so you can double-check to make certain your change will not break the Internet access for the device.

I have been using Meraki MS Switches for seven years.

MS switches have proven very reliable.

The solution is not as scalable as Cisco Nexus but not as expensive either. I think Meraki has hit the sweet spot on scaling.

Technical support is about an eight on a scale of ten. Meraki techs have additional capabilities beyond what the dashboard admin has so they can make some adjustments that you can't. Which is probably a good thing overall but can be frustrating. They use packet tracing rather effectively to troubleshoot which is available to the end user also.

Cisco switches were used previously. The main reason I switched was the cloud management. Ironically, after I switched, Cisco purchased Meraki. I was concerned Cisco would mismanage Meraki when that happened but they seem to have stayed out of the Meraki business model for the most part. Cisco and Meraki are starting to share some backend functions (Umbrella for example). Cisco is starting to offer Cisco switches that can be managed using the Meraki dashboard or local management. 

The dashboard is easy to setup and manage.

We implemented the solution in-house.

We have seen a two to three year ROI.

The licensing model is hard for some to wrap their heads around and I understand their concerns. Meraki, like numerous other vendors, is too expensive for a lot of small businesses. However, if uptime is critical to your organization, the cloud management, great stability, and performance of the MS line is a powerful combination. 

There are other cheaper solutions out there and some of them are quite good. I really like Meraki overall. Their license requirement means you always have support and next day replacement on all your Meraki equipment. Be careful if purchasing Meraki hardware secondhand. The warranty only applies to the original owner. So you should have a warranty from the secondhand provider if that is important to you.

They co-terminate the licenses so each license you purchase has a prorated impact on the co-termination date. You can choose to not use the co-termination date if you wish. The nice feature about the co-termination date is you don't have to micromanage each device's license. This is across all Meraki devices (security appliances, switches, APs, etc.). 

Purchase your switch with a one, three, five, seven, or ten-year license depending on your planned use and you might never need to think about a license again as you will be likely replacing the device with something newer at the end of that period. Purchasing the longer license protects from future price increases and also saves money versus adding on to the term later. Meraki is an ecosystem that works best if you are "all in" across your device lineup.

I find that Meraki licensing is a polarizing solution as you are either happy with it or have an allergic reaction to it.

NETGEAR, Ubiquiti, Aruba, Cisco Catalyst were all previously evaluated.

Meraki offers some free equipment if you participate in their webinars. You can get a free security appliance, switch, and AP after watching three webinars and trying them out for yourself. The free equipment comes with a three-year license. Obviously, it will be their lowest-end equipment, but it still gives you the Meraki dashboard experience.

I like the portal, it's really interesting.

The pricing can be made cheaper.

I have been using Meraki MS Switches for ten years.

I don't know about stability. But at present seven users are using it.

It is a scalable solution.

I have not contacted the support, my team does.

The setup is very very simple.

It was done with the help of a technical team.

It is very expensive so I want it to be cheaper.

I give it an eight out of ten.

I use this solution at work and in my house. The network in my house runs on Cisco Meraki. I use it to connect my home network to the internet.

At work, we use it to connect the users, their network, and their computers to the network.

It is easy to work with. 

The dashboard is awesome. It provides you with very rich information, and when it comes to troubleshooting, it provides you with a wealth of information on the network about what is going on.

It tells you what traffic goes out and what traffic comes in.

It's very good. It provides you with a very deep look and there is a lot of good information if you need it.

I would like to add a voice capability to Meraki, to make a call or receive a call. It can be done in the software or some type of hardware.

The switches have wireless, routers, firewalls, and SD-WAN. They have also added cameras to their product lines, as well as the sensors in their product lines.

I like to see to add some voice capability to complete the circle. That would make them complete in terms of having the ability to make a phone call. For example, if I am buying their products and I need a phone, then I would have to go buy a phone from another vendor. 

It would be nice because if I had a phone added then I would need to go to any other vendor. 

I would have one dashboard where I could see my sensors, my firewall, my switches, my wireless, and I can see the switch, I could see everything. I wouldn't need to go to the dashboard to look at my phone activity. It would all be on one dashboard and involve one vendor.

I have used Meraki MS Switches for many years.

I am using the latest version.

Meraki MS Switches is a stable product.

Meraki MS Switches are scalable.

The technical support is awesome. When you send an email, they respond quickly. They run 24/7.

It is easy to set up.

It is so simple that anyone could install it.

I don't have an issue with the price of this solution.

I am currently doing research to see what technology would be best suited for a particular issue that we are facing.

I haven't experienced any problems with this solution. 

If I had, I would have switched to another vendor, and I wouldn't use it at home.

I use it at work and at home and I don't have any issues.

I would rate Meraki MS Switches a ten out of ten.

We've chosen the Meraki product because the configuration is very simple. They are Cisco products, so we are sure of their reputation, the quality, the brand, the performance, and the support.

What we like best is that the product makes configuration easy. We can configure a whole bunch of switches or ports at the same time. For example, if we select 200 ports and change some parameters, these options will be applied two minutes later on every branch anywhere in the world where we have selected the switches. This ability to configure multiple switches in one step is an incredible feature.

One simple way to improve the product is to reconsider the price. They are more expensive than their competitors. You have to take into account that it is Meraki by Cisco and they know they are the best and that if you need a less expensive solution you can buy other products. If you want the best, you have to pay for it. But certainly they are a bit more expensive than the competitors.

For us, this product has been very stable. We have had zero problems concerning stability.

This solution is currently serving about 270 users within our company. I think the product is very scalable and it would not matter how many users we add.

I have been in touch with technical support. The support is of course in English because they are an English speaking company, but the support was all very clear to me. The resolution of our issue was easy and it took maybe about 30 minutes for issues I called about. With any problems or questions that we had, they were there to help and we had a fast resolution every time. So personally I am very happy with the support.

Before we switched to Cisco Meraki, we were using Hewlett Packard Enterprise Switches. They are not cloud-managed and it's not a software-defined network solution. I don't know if we can compare these one-to-one. But we did make the change because we thought it was a better fit for our network model and the solution was a better fit for our ultimate goals.

The initial setup was very easy. We deployed eight switches with about 350 ports. Configuration of that took about two days.

We did not need help from the vendor or an installation team. I did it by myself.

I know that Cisco is a bit more expensive than its competitors. I know that we bought a license for a three-year term and that you can get discounts based on the length of the term. However, I do not know the exact amount that we pay.

Actually, we did not consider other solutions when we decided to make the switch. I had read many things about Cisco Meraki and a lot of my colleges are using this solution. I went to visit some places that were using the solution and they showed me what it could do. I was satisfied with what my colleagues showed me about the solution when I was at their businesses and we bought the solution based on that impression.

My advice to other people who are looking into this solution is that if they need a fast, scalable and easy-to-manage solution, they can buy a Cisco Meraki product. They pay the price for the quality of the product and the ease of use. It is not the cheapest, but it is the best. Maybe the time you save in configuration and use over other products is worth the extra cost.

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Meraki Cisco as a nine. It is not a ten because of the price and if you give ten of ten points there is no room for improvement. Everything can improve, even the best.