Meraki MS Switches Reviews

We primarily use the solution to connect access points.

We are Cisco partners, so we are using this product in order to provide services to our customers. As a Cisco partner, we get support from Cisco and that's why we are using and selling this product.

The solution is easy to configure and to deploy.

The interface is great. It's easy to understand for the customer.

The solution doesn't offer anything different from any other solution. It's not a unique product.

Sometimes there's a problem with the pricing model they use. They should work to fix this.

The solution is stable.

We primarily use the solution for small and medium customers, so we don't deal so much with scalability. For our purposes, a couple of switches are enough, in most cases.

We've never had to contact Cisco's technical support.

We didn't previously use a different solution.

The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment takes a few days. For us, it took five days. It's more internal processes than the complexity of this solution that makes it take the amount of time it does.

We use the on-premises deployment model for small and medium-sized businesses.

In terms of advice to others, I'd suggest they push very hard for a discount. Other solutions are working really well, so discussion about discounts in relation to approaching customer-based projects is a good idea.

I'd rate it seven out of ten. I'd rate it higher, but the pricing isn't great. From a technical perspective, however, it meets all my needs.

Our primary use for this solution is cloud management. It is very comfortable for our customers when they have a remote office and can manage the switch from the access point.

This solution is an on-premises deployment model.

The most valuable feature of this solution is the interface because it is very simple and easy to learn, even for somebody who hasn't seen it before.

The remote management from the cloud is very good.

The security features are very good.

The price of this solution should be improved.

This solution is too simple for some cases, and there should be more configuration options.

I do not recall any service action, so this solution appears to be stable.

This solution is scalable if we're talking about one component with many remote offices. However, if we're talking about a company with a large headquarters then I can find better solutions.

There are dozens of users for this solution at the company in Poland, perhaps up to one hundred.

When I contacted technical support a long time ago, it was very good. The last time I spoke with them, something had changed at it was not as good. It was not bad, either. Meraki is a simple product, so many of the service actions are a product replacement.

The initial setup of this solution is easy. It is also easy to configure and deploy.

The complexity of the deployment depends on the configuration, but it will take a maximum of an hour to deploy.

This is not a cheap solution.

Every customer has different environments and requirements, but it's a good product for most solutions.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

We use the solution for switching only because it was already in place at an organization we took over who sold Meraki. We continue to use the Meraki solution as switches on that network.

Personally, I don't like the product because I don't like the idea of losing all functionality if your license for the cloud is not current and paid or if the cloud cannot be accessed. I wouldn't recommend these switches for most organizations because the cloud-based deployment is restrictive and comes with problems. The only reason I can see choosing this product is if your organization is totally non-IT, on-premises and you are comfortable leaving IT services in the hands of somebody else.

Realistically, the pricing should be improved to match the services and features provided. This also should be enhanced so that you are able to use the product when there is no cloud connectivity.

Because of dependence on the cloud, my strongest advice to people considering this solution is to make sure you have a reliable internet connection.

As far as future improvements to the product, it is not a concern for us as we are not doing additional installations at this point and would probably hope, instead, to phase out the use of the product.

I have not experienced any bugs while using the product, but in trawling the internet for more information and doing some research, it seems that there can be a lot of problems with this solution. We have not experienced any of these problems ourselves.

The product is scalable and can work if you're a small to medium-sized business. I wouldn't want to use Meraki in an enterprise network. At the moment we have about six clients sites where the Meraki device is used for storage. That is a total of about 40 or so end-users. 

I have not had the reason to use customer services or technical support.

We are currently using Meraki at some sites but we are also using NETGEAR. NETGEAR is our preferred switch kit. We normally would prefer not to use Meraki at all. We were forced to use it because a customer we took over already had the Meraki switches.

The initial setup can be straightforward if you don't make it too complicated by trying to do a lot of customization. The entire setup took us about four hours.

We did not use a vendor team for the implementation, we did it ourselves.

With the solution that we currently have, I think it costs about 1,200 pounds a year. They bill on a yearly basis. There are no licensing costs in addition to the standard yearly licensing fees, but of course, you have to buy the kit. It is the nature of this type of product to require that type of initial capital expenditure.

It is very important that people considering this solution have or can implement a very reliable internet connection. The product needs this to access the cloud.

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate this product as a six. It is just too limited to be rated any higher.

We've chosen the Meraki product because the configuration is very simple. They are Cisco products, so we are sure of their reputation, the quality, the brand, the performance, and the support.

What we like best is that the product makes configuration easy. We can configure a whole bunch of switches or ports at the same time. For example, if we select 200 ports and change some parameters, these options will be applied two minutes later on every branch anywhere in the world where we have selected the switches. This ability to configure multiple switches in one step is an incredible feature.

One simple way to improve the product is to reconsider the price. They are more expensive than their competitors. You have to take into account that it is Meraki by Cisco and they know they are the best and that if you need a less expensive solution you can buy other products. If you want the best, you have to pay for it. But certainly they are a bit more expensive than the competitors.

For us, this product has been very stable. We have had zero problems concerning stability.

This solution is currently serving about 270 users within our company. I think the product is very scalable and it would not matter how many users we add.

I have been in touch with technical support. The support is of course in English because they are an English speaking company, but the support was all very clear to me. The resolution of our issue was easy and it took maybe about 30 minutes for issues I called about. With any problems or questions that we had, they were there to help and we had a fast resolution every time. So personally I am very happy with the support.

Before we switched to Cisco Meraki, we were using Hewlett Packard Enterprise Switches. They are not cloud-managed and it's not a software-defined network solution. I don't know if we can compare these one-to-one. But we did make the change because we thought it was a better fit for our network model and the solution was a better fit for our ultimate goals.

The initial setup was very easy. We deployed eight switches with about 350 ports. Configuration of that took about two days.

We did not need help from the vendor or an installation team. I did it by myself.

I know that Cisco is a bit more expensive than its competitors. I know that we bought a license for a three-year term and that you can get discounts based on the length of the term. However, I do not know the exact amount that we pay.

Actually, we did not consider other solutions when we decided to make the switch. I had read many things about Cisco Meraki and a lot of my colleges are using this solution. I went to visit some places that were using the solution and they showed me what it could do. I was satisfied with what my colleagues showed me about the solution when I was at their businesses and we bought the solution based on that impression.

My advice to other people who are looking into this solution is that if they need a fast, scalable and easy-to-manage solution, they can buy a Cisco Meraki product. They pay the price for the quality of the product and the ease of use. It is not the cheapest, but it is the best. Maybe the time you save in configuration and use over other products is worth the extra cost.

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Meraki Cisco as a nine. It is not a ten because of the price and if you give ten of ten points there is no room for improvement. Everything can improve, even the best.

• All the switches managed from one dashboard, forget about CLI
• One-click changing VLAN
• Aggregate ports, I can easy see what is connect to each port on the switch,
• I can see how the bandwidth is used
• Automatic firmware upgrade
• Adding new switch takes less than 10 minutes

We have about 20 switches across five offices in USA, Europe and India, and we can all manage all of them from one dashboard. No more spending time on the firmware upgrade, it is automatic, and the switches just work!

• Management
• Maintenance
• Support

I've used it for two years.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

Unfortunately, they don't have an upgrade path, so if you need higher model, you need to buy a new one.

10/10.

10/10.

• Dell
• Cisco
• Arista

It is very easy, just add the switch to your dashboard network and you ready to go. And you don't need to be a network expert to do it.

We did it in-house.

• Arista
• Juniper

I hope they will have an upgrade path soon. For example, we bought a switch, and after two months we needed to upgrade it to the model with 10GB ports. Unfortunately Meraki said that we can upgrade because it is over 30 days, but we needed buy new switch.

Our primary use case for the solution is for switching and user connectivity. We deploy the solution on cloud.

The reporting could be improved and could be more granular.

We have been using the solution for approximately seven years.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable.

The initial setup is straightforward.

We evaluated Juniper.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. It is suitable for small to medium business segments.

I use this solution as a network switch in colleges.

The main features of Meraki MS Switches are integration, high quality, and hardware guarantee.

The solution does not fit all use cases. 

I have used Meraki MS Switches within the last 12 months.

I have not used technical support. However, I have used documentation for the solution.

I have evaluated other firewalls, such as Aruba.

I rate Meraki MS Switches a ten out of ten.

The primary goal is to assist the customer, and in some cases, it may be necessary to recommend Meraki when they have limited assistance or staff available to manage the infrastructure effectively.

It offers a compelling solution due to its cloud management capabilities and strong security features. In specific sectors like healthcare and hospitality, reliability is paramount, and customers demand reputable brands with a long track record in security and support.

One key challenge often encountered is the perception that strategic products like Cisco and Meraki tend to be more expensive than alternatives like Aruba. It might be perceived as more of a niche product, partly due to its name, as it's still not entirely recognized by the market. 

We have been working with it for ten years.

The support provided is truly impressive. They are offering excellent assistance and a product lineup that stands up to the big brand names.

Positive

The initial installation was easy, and the support team was readily available.

The suitability of Meraki switches depends on the specific needs of customers, especially in industries like hospitality and healthcare where multiple units are involved. It requires a bit more effort to familiarize customers with its offerings. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.