Cradlepoint Routers vs. Dell PowerConnect Switches

It has worked great for our emergency vehicles and mobile remote dispatch stations. We did have them at other bases as secondary internet access in the event of failure of our fiber, but I have found that is not as useful as we thought it may have been. I have temporarily disabled cellular on those devices and just did not have the need for it.

Incentivized

We work in the electric industry. These should not be used in a high-heat environment. We like to keep the temperature of the room in the low 60's so they are not suited for our Substation locations due to extreme heat and cold. However, they perform great in a server room.

Incentivized

• Ease of setup. After the SIM card is installed, you can have the device up in a matter of minutes.
• Central management using NetCloud.
• You get the bang for your buck.

Incentivized

• Reliable.
• Excellent hardware support from Dell including 4 hour parts/replacement.
• Excellent technical support from Dell on software, troubleshooting, and configuration.
• More affordable than its main enterprise competitors.
• Easy to use CLI.

Incentivized

• Throughput was not great compared to similar solutions with same sim cards.
• Paid management portal.
• Overly complicated setup mainly due to the paid management portal.

Incentivized

• Precarious graphical (GUI) mode, needing to be updated for more efficient technologies such as HTML5
• Short support time, given how much these devices support in terms of use. I have owned the devices for years, but no longer have a warranty

Incentivized

I have been using some type of device like this for a very long time. We have and will maintain the need for this and have no immediate plan to make any change from Cradlepoint Routers. They have been very solid. These devices are a bit pricey, however worth the money as they always work and are reliable and save IT staff time.

Incentivized

It has always been a pleasure working with that team. They always go above and beyond with getting the device working as you need it to work and are always willing to explain and answer any questions.

Incentivized

Dell ProSupport is outstanding. Dell ProDeploy is likewise outstanding. I prefer them even over traditional Cisco support. I've had repeated cases where Dell immediately addressed or fixed an issue with US-based support, including firmware hotfixes. Not even Cisco can boast that.

Incentivized

I have not used a cellular router before this, so I can't compare.

I am however familiar with Cradlepoint as designing components for Emergency Responders to keep them connected and online while dispatched. That was a deciding factor for us. We wanted something heavy duty and reliable.

Incentivized

I selected Dell mainly due to previous experience using them in a business environment. I've never had a unit fail on me and when my budget for equipment like network switches has been less than a training class on how to use those switches, it's incredible to be able to find quality equipment at the price point Dell offers and even more so when their enterprise support has been as excellent as I have been accustomed to dealing with. In all honesty, even if I had a larger budget, I would have bought these same switches since they were exactly what I needed to suit my needs. We looked into HPE/Aruba network switches, and while they would have performed everything we needed and more, they were almost four times the cost of these Dell network switches. That's a hard sell when it comes to planning a tight budget.

Incentivized

• For the price I don't think it effectively "wow'd" the client.
• Throughput caused our network service to not be fully utilized.

Incentivized

• Reports are easily created and very useful.
• Quick creation of different network connections.
• Excellent and secure channels for multiple data management.
• Great data visualization options offered by Dell PowerConnect Switches.

Incentivized