Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points vs. WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud

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.

The WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud works well in any scenario. With the number of AP model options, this solution can work at a coffee shop all the way up to a multi-tenant facility with thousands of users.

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• 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.

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• enable wireless access on watchguard-based networks
• ensure reliable performances
• allow fast wireless data transfer operations

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• 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.

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• Better Access Points from WG
• Map Feature

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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

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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.

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We have been deploying Meraki since last 8 years and even the first one deployed seems to be working fine till now!

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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.

The support team is great! I have never had an issue getting the support I needed. They make it a point to stick with the issue until it's resolved to the customer's satisfaction. They do not make you feel like you need to hurry up and close the ticket. They make sure the solution is working as designed.

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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.

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.

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WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud offers the cloud management solution unlike Ubiquiti which needs a controller that you need to setup, configure, update, and maintain. Also Security is offered with Secure Wi-Fi cloud.

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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.

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• 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.

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• It is not the cheapest one by price but with all the features it is it worth
• They follow costs after buying are not so high because of the centralized and easy deployment and managemet
• To see where we have a bottleneck is so easy in the WatchGuard Cloud

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