Cisco Embedded Wireless Controller vs Meraki MR

Likelihood to Recommend

Unless you're a mega corporation, most mid size to large companies could use a few of these guys around to balance the wireless load a bit. I could recommend it to someone looking for a relatively cheap set of devices that can alleviate some of the strain on the network backbone that services your wireless systems.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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A Cisco Meraki MR is well-suited for highly visible locations where a device needs to be suddenly integrated and not drawing attention to itself. It may not be so well-suited to environments where in depth monitoring of traffic to specific destinations needs to be quickly determined and throttled on an as needed basis, such as in a conference environment.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Law Practice Company, 51-200 employees

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Pros

They seem solid and well built, hardly ever fail
Once you get a hand of the setup they're easy to add/remove
Automatic failover is seamless and super helpful

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Layer 7 Firewall Embedded
Different type of access control and guess portal
Traffic shaping and bandwidth rate limits for high demands application
Health option to identify quickly different problems with the performance
Integration with third party guess portal like “Eleven WiFi” for customize guess access
Analytics and reports of usage very helpful in order to obtain data of your internet usage and allocate resources more efficient

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Jose De Jesus

IT Hospitality Manager

NovalogiqComputer Networking, 11-50 employees

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Cons

Some bugs in the interface.
Issues with licensing and Cisco DNA integration.
Frequent software patches needed,

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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There needs to be an easier way to see which devices are being heavier used, so as to determine needed adjustments.
It would be good to have more in-depth access to what locations connected devices are navigating to.
Cost. These devices could be a little more competitive if the cost were lower. Meraki prices itself out of some sales.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Law Practice Company, 51-200 employees

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Usability

No score

No answers yet

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Meraki MR 8.6

Based on 2 answers

The Cisco Meraki MR web interface is best in class when it comes to network management. While some networking knowledge is needed to understand what you are doing, no specialized training in any one specific operating system is required to design a whole network.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 51-200 employees

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Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

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Meraki MR 8.8

Based on 25 answers

Meraki support is usually top notch. The are quick to respond and stick with an issue until it is resolved. One of the difficulties I've had with Meraki MRs is the limited ability the customer has in troubleshooting. Much of the more technical aspects of resolution can only be accessed by the Meraki support team, meaning dedicated IT teams are reliant on them when more complicated issues arise.

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Dennis Chwee

Senior Network Engineer

Clark ConstructionConstruction, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

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Meraki MR are certainly one of the good products on the market. The ease of use, configuration from the dashboard and the rollout are certainly the main differentiators of Meraki. The lifetime warranty of MR (not outdoor models) is also a great advantage.But, the licenses to pay as long as you use the product may discourage some buyers (vs Fortinet for example).

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Verified User

Account Manager in Sales

Information Technology & Services Company, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

Intelligent configuring cuts out much time required to deploy access points
Mobile app has given us more (and faster) control over each departments devices
Having a well functioning wireless network encourages departments to keep adding devices!

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Very easy deployment when we moved a major office location.
When we added special business needs we were able to add a Wi-Fi channel for special access with minimal IT effort and configuration.
Easy to setup, deploy and install when we have added remote sites.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Oil & Energy Company, 201-500 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No