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Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points vs. Extreme Wireless Access Points

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/ACisco's Meraki MR Series is a wireless LAN solution.N/A

    Extreme Wireless Access Points

    Score9.6 out of 10
    N/AExtreme Networks' Wireless Access Points (or ExtremeWireless) are designed to provide performance in the most demanding environments with the latest Wi-Fi technologies including 6 GHz, OFDMA, MU-MIMO, and software-defined dual 6 GHz radios.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsExtreme Wireless Access Points
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsExtreme Wireless Access Points
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsExtreme Wireless Access Points
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
    Meraki console is great, has more visibility and functionalities.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
    Good competition. Meraki has an easier dashboard
    Incentivized
    Extreme Networks
    Chose Extreme Wireless Access Points
    sub tier, but still a great product at a price point lower that the ideal vendor of choice
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    158 Answers
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    145 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    161 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    140 Answers
    80%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    99%
    Implementation went as expected
    153 Answers
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
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    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsExtreme Wireless Access Points
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    Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
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    User Ratings
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsExtreme Wireless Access Points
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (176 ratings)
    9.5
    (11 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.5
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (12 ratings)
    8.8
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (28 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    7.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.9
    (112 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access PointsExtreme Wireless Access Points
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    There is no doubt that these access points are objectively some of the best in the industry. If you need reliability, stability, range, and something to "set and forget" these are an easy choice for those things alone. However, these are most appropriate in high demand, large environments where you can take advantage of the RF tuning, wireless stability, and overall robustness of the platform. Another important note is the SUPPORT as well. There are competitors that I won't mention that simply don't have the level of support and expertise for complex troubleshooting if you ever need it, and that alone counts as significant factor when considering the product too. Merak has that covered.
    To wrap up, the cost for large deployment makes far more sense than at a small operation where you need something like 5 APs in a small/medium office for basic Wi-Fi needs. That includes potential cost of time spent troubleshooting future network issues too by IT personnel.
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    The Extreme access point solution has been used in the cooperative scenario with VLANs for employees in access through 802.1x authentication and also for guests through the captive portal that allows access of people for a limited time and prior registration. The equipment has great performance and connection speed and supports a high density of users connected at the same time without lag and crashes. The management of this equipment is being carried out through software with cloud management and is accessed by our infrastructure team to configure and monitor alerts.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • It's cloud based, so as long as we have an internet connection, we can access it. Whenever we push a change, it's one stop like a single pane of glass to manage all our equipment. And so that's what I liked about it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    • Ease of use and Management. The process of implementing APs is straight forward and managing the wireless infrastructure is quite simple and efficient.
    • Coverage: we are very happy with the distance each AP coverages in our warehouses without having any drop issues or over implementing APs.
    • Cost competitive versus other cloud managed wi-fi solutions such as Cisco, Aruba or Mist.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Internet connection dependency for management. Management is cloud-based, requiring a strong internet connection. Local management is not possible in the event of network problems or internet outages.
    • Limited in-depth configuration options. Some more detailed configuration settings are missing or difficult to configure, such as RF tuning and QoS. These are available in some other Cisco products.
    • License costs: an active license must always be present in the environment, otherwise the product won't work. It's easy to purchase, but if you're going to be expanding regularly, the costs will add up considerably. Ultimately, it's wise to factor this into your purchase.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    • In my experience, licensing has become a nightmare. Licensing must be tied to a device, they also won't let you activate used units from other companies if they are donated or purchased third-party.
    • Customer service is outsourced overseas.
    • In my experience, technicians are incentivized to close tickets quickly - whether the issue has been fixed or not - which can be frustrating to work with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    It is a solution that works very well. It is almost like setup and forget, since the solution works. When issues occur, documentation is available with detailed steps on how to solve this problems you are facing, of course Technical Support is always ready to help. We have had instances where an Access Point fails and within 2 days we have the replacement
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Cisco
    To get basic functionality doesn't take long. Set up a new Meraki Dashboard activate the licenses and get internet connection for the APs and you are more or less done. The Dashboard will find your items and you're good to go.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    Extreme Wireless Access Points are easy to manage. They are easy to deploy and install. The hardware and firmware are reliable. There a number of things to be improved since we are still using the WiNG platform, but all of those things will be much better when we migrate to CloudIQ.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    We have been deploying Meraki since last 8 years and even the first one deployed seems to be working fine till now!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Extreme Networks
    Extreme Wireless Access Points can support all our devices, even in high capacity areas. They are easy to manage and get basic information. There was a time back around 2017-2018 where people's devices needed to make sure they were using the latest wireless drivers; otherwise, people were having connection issues. Other than that time period, we were able to have fewer complaints from end users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    We have not had any issues with the Meraki WiFi Access Point hardware but we did encounter a problem with a Meraki LAN switch that failed to power up. Upon a email into the Meraki Support, they promptly called back and we went over some quick tests to determine a power supply problem. A replacement LAN switch was sent to me the next day.
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    Support was always responsive and willing to help, but at times did not know when to call it and send a replacement to stop the bleeding. I respect that fact that they wanted to get the solution working, and the wanting to learn more and understand, but at times you cant do that at the expense of the customer.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    There were documents that detailed how the WiFi Access Point was to be installed and mounted. The only issue was to cable the device, we use a third party for this type of work and typically has to be performed after normal business hours. Other than that, the installation was easy.
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    Extreme Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    The Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points fare really well against HPE Aruba AP. The cost difference is minimal on the hardware although things get more expensive on support and subscription cost (on going cost). Speed and throughput seems to be better on Cisco Meraki (user feedback and experience not technically measured). User connectivity is better with HPE Aruba primarily because of the Clearpass solution on top of its generic software management.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    I've used both Aruba and Cisco (traditional, not Meraki) for wireless, and each have their own strengths. Aruba offers a lot of feature functionality, though the interface is difficult and confusing to use (this was ~4 years ago). Cisco wireless is fairly straightforward to set up and expand, though features are more limited. Aerohive's benefit is the easy+speed of deployment. I've also used the Citrix NetScaler SSL VPN soft client and that works fairly well, though it doesn't compare like-for-like due to the fact that it's software vs. Aerohive, which is hardware.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cisco
    As far as I know, it's 10. I mean, because like I said, I manage stuff in the south. I have coworkers that manage it in the north. And so the scalability of it to be able to be go in and see the configurations of the ones in the north as well as they can see in the south. So across the board, it works really well for how widespread out it is.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Uptime has improved significantly. The dashboard automatically keeps devices up to date by scheduling upgrades at remote times (say 2am on a Sunday)
    • Swapping to Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points has reduced the management overhead. No more long controller software hardware upgrades and obviously no more need for beefy central controllers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Extreme Networks
    • Linking APs to AD, via NPS, and gaining the password reset policy; helped us move past some issues that we were held up on with SOC
    • Segregating corporate wifi and guest wifi, plus forcing guest wifi to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy, was needed to pass a compliance audit of the network.
    • Being able to locate which users are connected to which individual wifi AP, has been a asset with troubleshooting
    • APs sharing connections allows for us to overlap the wifi zones and create redundancy if an AP were to go offline for any reason.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points Screenshots

    Screenshot of MR57 Cisco Meraki Access Point

    Extreme Wireless Access Points Screenshots

    Screenshot of AP5020Screenshot of AP5010Screenshot of AP3000/XScreenshot of AP4000Screenshot of AP5050U/D