Item: Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Meraki MR

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

So we basically we deploy them, it provides wireless connectivity to all our users and we basically monitor some analytics as far as connectivity and just to make sure that the user experience for wireless is appropriate and troubleshoot any issues that go on. If people are having issues with wireless connectivity.

Pros and Cons

Pros

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.

Cons

I would think the buffering time as far as when you push out, so it's kind of almost contradicting how I like the access of the cloud to push the configurations out, but it takes some time for the configurations to really kind of take in effect. And so you have to constantly refresh the browser and eventually it takes in effect, but it does take a little, there is some lag time there.

Return on Investment

It's allowed us to be more free with the management. And so we're able to manage other things in tandem with this because we're a smaller shop, our total staff is a little over 500 people, but our IT staff is really only nine. And then there's only two network staff members. My director, he's able to do networking functions too, so he's able to manage this device too. So being that our IT department's real small, having this product and I guess the visibility, that's one perk that comes with it too.
There's a lot of visibility into power settings and signal strength and all that stuff that we never got with our old product. And that's the funny thing that I forgot to mention was the amount of money that they wanted for Cisco Wireless to bolt on that visibility was the same amount of money that Cisco Meraki was going to give us. All new hardware, a cloud controller and all that visibility. And so we were like, oh, if we're going to get all this new equipment, we might as well go with it. And so that was a big impact to us too because one, it saved us money and the style of implementing and the troubleshooting methods that we get from the visibility allows us to manage our time better to go work on other things and still that it operates great on the side.

Simplified Management

It's released the administrative overhead from us of having to manage the hardware. It's relieved us of it is just really one controller, but having to secure that device, having to provide the heating, the cooling and all that stuff. And so it's appropriate there.

Scalability

I'll give it a 10 because we're able to just implement and as long as it has an internet connection out to the cloud, it comes right up. So I mean besides that lag time, once it comes up, it works great.

Alternatives Considered

I have not used other products but we looked at Dell, there was a Dell product and we looked at it around the same time, but we went with the brand Cisco and it worked out well. I'm not sure how the Dell really works in operations, but I've heard it is not a bad product either, but I think Cisco Meraki is kind of superior to it from what I feel.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Cisco Nexus Series Switches

Likelihood to Recommend

So I guess kind of what I went over earlier, it is well suited because we had it on-prem cloud, not cloud, but wireless controller that we constantly had to manage the updates and all that stuff. And this being in the cloud, it's kind of handled by the Cisco, I guess, Meraki team. And so I think it suits us very well for that, for having that administrative burden be released from us.
I really like the product and so the prior wireless solution that we had, and it was actually a Cisco wireless solution. This one's the Cisco Meraki, that was an upgrade for us. I think pricing wise it made sense. I guess that's another thing too. It cost less and we got more. And so where, I don't know, I really like the product, so it's kind of hard for me to give that. I think if you got slow internet to access the cloud, then that buffering time might take a little longer, so that might be an inappropriate scenario.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points Feature Ratings

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Cisco Meraki MR Review

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