Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Ubiquiti Wireless are competitive in the WLAN sector. Cisco Meraki may have the upper hand with its advanced centralized management capabilities.
Features: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers robust centralized management, detailed insights, and flexibility through a cloud-based dashboard that simplifies network control and monitoring. This suits both small and large organizations needing detailed analytics and easy deployment. Ubiquiti Wireless provides efficient hardware with good coverage and cost-effectiveness, suitable for small to medium businesses, focusing on essential features and easy deployment without recurring cloud costs.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN could enhance its feature set to match non-cloud competitors and improve its support services and licensing model, particularly addressing the strict stoppage upon license expiry. Ubiquiti Wireless could benefit from enhanced security features and better support services, alongside improvements in their management software for increased enterprise suitability.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is primarily cloud-based, offering seamless and remote management, making it ideal for businesses with varied locations. However, its customer service is often seen as inconsistent, with varied support experiences. Ubiquiti Wireless, mainly deployed on-premises, provides a straightforward setup process with affordable initial costs but might fall short in support availability, particularly for complex issues.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN tends to be more expensive due to its subscription model, often perceived as high-priced, particularly for small businesses, although it provides positive ROI through reduced operational costs and strong support resources. Ubiquiti Wireless offers a cost-effective solution without licensing fees, appealing to budget-conscious customers looking for essential features and reliable performance, making it an attractive option for smaller setups, though possibly less feature-rich for complex needs.
It would be better if the SLA of technical support was less than four hours.
I didn't have any issues with Ubiquiti support.
Meraki is not scalable enough since it straightforwardly maps its products to segmented specifications.
Ubiquiti Wireless offers large scalability, which is very important for our company as we have multiple sites that need to be interconnected and managed effectively.
We have experienced many instances where we have experienced a lag in our network, and I am not sure if it is due to their devices or our network.
Stability is not an issue for me because it comes with Cisco's proven manufacturer quality.
Ubiquiti Wireless is rated ten out of ten for stability.
The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks.
Some of the newer models of the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN access point have encompassed the new wireless protocols and increased the strength of their antennas.
The firewall configuration also requires significant effort and could be improved for ease of use.
Enterprise users require more details and options.
When I want to deploy a Ubiquiti access point with the centralized appliance, we can't do all the configuration in our lab and send it to the shop.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is on par with other devices in that category, offering competitive pricing.
The pricing of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is not competitive enough for the SMB market compared to other brands.
Ubiquiti Wireless is cheaper.
The equipment is priced relatively high, though the value it provides makes it worth the cost.
It also manages security clients and switches, providing a single dashboard to manage multiple network infrastructures.
The ability to program all access points from the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN dashboard, view the status of all of them, and examine the individual devices connected to each access point is very valuable.
They integrate into the management console very easily, making diagnostics and configuration changes simple.
Since implementing Ubiquiti Wireless, I have seen improvements in connection security, wireless speed, and overall network stability.
Compared to Ruckus, we have not yet seen all benefits for all users and for administration.
Ubiquiti Wireless refers to the wireless networking solutions provided by Ubiquiti Networks, a leading technology company specializing in networking and wireless communication products. Ubiquiti Wireless offers a range of innovative and cost-effective wireless networking solutions designed for various applications, including enterprise networks, service providers, small and medium-sized businesses, and home users.
Ubiquiti Wireless products are known for their reliability, performance, and ease of use. They encompass a wide range of devices and technologies, including wireless access points, wireless routers, antennas, bridges, mesh networks, and point-to-point or point-to-multipoint wireless links.
Ubiquiti Wireless Features:
Scalability: Ubiquiti Wireless products are designed to scale easily, allowing organizations to expand their wireless networks as needed without significant infrastructure changes.
Flexibility: Ubiquiti Wireless offers a range of products suitable for various deployment scenarios, including indoor and outdoor environments, long-range connectivity, and mesh networks.
Centralized Management: Ubiquiti provides a centralized management platform called the UniFi Controller, which allows administrators to configure, monitor, and manage their entire wireless network from a single interface.
Seamless Roaming: Ubiquiti Wireless solutions support seamless roaming, allowing wireless devices to maintain connectivity while moving across different access points within a network.
Advanced Security: Ubiquiti incorporates security features such as encryption, authentication, and firewall capabilities to protect wireless networks and data transmissions.
Cost-Effective: Ubiquiti Wireless products are known for their affordability without compromising performance, making them an attractive option for organizations with budget constraints.
Community Support: Ubiquiti has a vibrant community of users and enthusiasts who actively contribute to knowledge sharing, troubleshooting, and expanding the capabilities of Ubiquiti Wireless products.
Ubiquiti Wireless Components:
Ubiquiti Wireless encompasses a range of components that work together to provide reliable and scalable wireless networking solutions. Here are some key components commonly found in Ubiquiti Wireless deployments:
Reviews from Real Users
George Ferns, Solution Architect - Networking and IoT at a wholesaler & distributor, states that Ubiquiti Wireless has "Attractive pricing and good for home use and small businesses, but it is not easily scalable and lacks security features".
Walter Shelver, Owner at CableWeb, writes that "The most valuable aspect of Ubiquiti is the ease of setup. It's easy to set up, secure, and use. It works on an adoption basis. I can pull the system up, design a network, and pull 20 different Ubiquiti units into it".
ThomasWilke, CEO at CITOM, says that “You can almost do everything with Cisco products for a much better price with a significantly lower learning curve”.
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