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Cisco Meraki MS Switches are great switches for your users
October 17, 2019

Cisco Meraki MS Switches are great switches for your users

Andrew Murphy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Meraki MS Switches

I used Cisco Meraki MS Switches for POE user switches. They are managed through a dashboard. The dashboard makes it so much easier to configure and manage. They were fiber linked between buildings. The Meraki MS Switches are used throughout the entire organization at Stephenson Equipment Inc. Very reliable equipment.
  • Managed by a dashboard instead of a command line. You don't have to be an expert to configure them.
  • You can see a list of clients that connected and how much bandwidth they have used.
  • The dashboard shows you the historical bandwidth up through the last month. This will allow you to troubleshoot issues.
  • Licensing. You have to purchase licenses either yearly or every 3 years. I would love to see this one purchase and you own it for life. The equipment will still work after the license expires if you don't renew but you can't change/manage it without a valid license.
  • I would like to see them have a 10G MS switch.
  • Easier management means less time to configure the Meraki equipment. This is the case with all the Meraki gear, switches, routers, access points, cameras.
  • Tech support is extremely helpful in resolving any issues. They also proactively have replaced switches when they predicted them to fail.
  • Negative impact is the licensing cost. Continuing to pay to manage. However, they aggregate their licenses so if you purchase another Meraki and license they merge the time in with what you currently have and extend all the older licenses.
The NetGear and Linksys switches do not even compare to the Cisco Meraki. The majority of those I've used are unmanaged. You just plug and go and have no control over routing. The Cisco Catalyst is much better than the Meraki. It's meant for more of a backbone/server/san usage. You get better performance from the Cisco Catalyst.
However, I would still buy Meraki MS equipment for the users!
I've never had a problem with tech support. They were very helpful every time I called them. Meraki will proactively let you know when they release firmware and you can automatically schedule it to be installed. They will advance ship replacement switches so you don't have to lose productivity and plan your downtime.

Do you think Cisco Meraki MS delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Meraki MS's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Meraki MS live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Meraki MS go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Meraki MS again?

Yes

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech), Veeam Backup & Replication, Datto
Cisco Meraki MS Switches are well suited to companies with small IT staff. The dashboard makes it easy to configure and manage. They are great switches but they do not have as much power as the regular Cisco switches. The Cisco Meraki MS Switches are not good for Network Backbone or SAN switches. I would use a regular Cisco switch in those cases. In my scenario, the Meraki switches were used for Users, Cameras, Phones, and Printers. The regular Cisco switches were used for the Backbone, servers, and SAN.