Cisco Meraki Z3 Teleworker is an enterprise class firewall, VPN gateway and router. Each model offers five gigabit ethernet ports and wireless for connectivity. Cisco now recommends the Meraki Z4 Teleworker.
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SoftEther VPN
Score 10.0 out of 10
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Pricing
Cisco Meraki Z3 Teleworker (discontinued)
SoftEther VPN
Editions & Modules
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No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Meraki Z3 Teleworker (discontinued)
SoftEther VPN
Free Trial
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Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Features
Cisco Meraki Z3 Teleworker (discontinued)
SoftEther VPN
Virtual Private Network
Comparison of Virtual Private Network features of Product A and Product B
The Cisco Meraki Z3 Teleworker appliance was ideal for scenarios where the remote worker spent the majority of their time remote. It alleviates the need for VPN software and gives the IT staff additional visibility into the connectivity of the user. We often encountered scenarios where the users broadband was having issues vs the Meraki network and the tools Meraki provides help to work through these scenarios. The case for the Meraki devices is not as strong for occasional users who cannot justify the cost of the appliance vs just logging in via VPN.
SoftEther VPN works easily, and extremely well through Azure, client-to-server, and in Layer 3 bridge mode between offices but it is not so easy to use from mobile devices, although we have had success, albeit with difficulty in the configuration.
It just works—I have never had a single call from a client or end-user complaining that their VPN wasn't working.
It can be configured to be super easy for end-users to use—Nearly transparent to them, in fact.
It is very lightweight on devices and works extremely fast. So fast, in fact, that about the only issue I ever have with SoftEther VPN are related to users sometimes forgetting they are working remotely.
We have has some issues where their default port won't connect through an AT&T wireless AP, but creating an exception for it on the AP or changing the port always gets it working.
At the time of implementation, we were not aware of a comparable product from Cisco or comparative vendor. We had initially deployed the Z1 appliance and had so much success that the transition to the Cisco Meraki Z3 Teleworker was a quick and easy fit for us. The device is easy to deploy and just works.
I had experienced several reliability issues soon after Pertino VPN-as-a-Service was acquired by Cradlepoint where the service would go down for a supposed update but would be down for long periods. And that was just one of several issues that caused me grief. I started looking around for a suitable replacement and came across SoftEther VPN, a project by the University of Tsukuba, Japan, quite by accident. I fell in love with its ease of implementation, low device cost, ease of Admin control, and ease of use for end-users, in addition to its near-zero downtime reliability, and the fact that I have total control over its operation and maintenance.
I went from a Pertino/Cradlepoint VPN-as-a-Service requiring no hardware to a SoftEther VPN Client/Server configuration and that required the purchase of a tiny server to run SEVPN. It could have been a Linux box or Windows and I chose Windows, so there was a minimal cost for the Windows 10 device but it eliminated the monthly service cost and has historically been far more reliable.
We went from about $12/user/month on Cradlepoint perimeter81 to $0/user/month after about a $500 investment in hardware, so just one of my clients has been saving $300/month after the initial $500 for the "Server" device.
