Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Reviews

The major use case is enterprise office scenarios with multiple floors and different VLANs all talking to a core network.

The central provisioning capability is a major strength, combined with the cloud-based nature of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless. Everything can be done remotely, including deployment, provisioning, and troubleshooting from the cloud. The hardware requirement on-premises is significantly reduced, with only access points needed on-site while the controller sits in the cloud. This represents the major selling point.

Many enterprise environments now require application steering and the ability to control traffic through their WAN or SD-WAN, ensuring they can tag applications and enforce policies from a Layer 7 perspective. From the wireless perspective, being able to begin that Layer 7 tracking or Layer 7 enforcement all the way down to the core and to the WAN is valuable. The ability to see through packets at Layer 7 is a good advantage for enterprises that are very security-focused and optimization-focused, making application steering a very important feature.

Cloud provisioning is beneficial not only for initial setup but also for troubleshooting and issue resolution. The advantage is that one does not have to deal with the issues of on-premises accessibility, and network issues can be isolated from the cloud. Since Cisco Meraki MR Wireless controller itself is in the cloud, it makes operations easier. The visibility on-premises combined with the ability to control and troubleshoot multiple locations and branch offices from a single pane of glass is very useful.

Visibility into the type of traffic passing through at a given point in time is important. If that information can be passed through a SIEM or integrated with a security operations center or incident and event management tool within Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, it provides deeper visibility. The fact that Cisco Meraki MR Wireless can log traffic data for analysis is a very good and frequently used feature.

Technology is always evolving, and we are currently in the Wi-Fi 6 domain. Some specification parameters of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless are not at the level of competitors like Huawei, and this could be true for many other wireless providers as well. Cost is also an area for improvement, as feedback from some customers indicates that for the same amount of value received from alternative solutions, Cisco Meraki MR Wireless could be priced better. From a technology perspective, Cisco Meraki MR Wireless does some catch-up work instead of being an industry leader.

I have been using Cisco Meraki MR Wireless for close to ten years.

All things being equal, stability is good.

Scalability is good. I have seen a customer scale from three branch offices to approximately ninety-seven, and it scaled without issues.

The wait time for customer service support can be a consideration, and it may depend on the type of support subscription. I have worked in North America and also in Africa, and I feel that the support received in Africa is not at the same level as what I experienced in North America.

The initial setup is quite easy, especially if one knows what they are doing.

The durability of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, combined with the Cisco ecosystem's better community knowledge, makes it easier to troubleshoot issues, find workarounds, and talk to the community to get insights. Other systems do not have as much community support. If issues arise with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, it is easier to search online and find forums where similar issues have already been discussed, which shows that many people are using it. If issues occurred with competitors like Aruba or Huawei, finding community support would be more difficult. This singular point is important because one wants something that is not just cost-effective but also something that can be supported and troubleshot with skilled people familiar with the technology. Cisco does well in this regard.

Using the heat map tool to generate a visualization of the environment and layer it to a floor plan helps identify blind spots and areas where RF noise or interference exists. This capability allows one to decide which channels to configure to avoid those interferences or how best to mitigate their effects. It is a very good tool for both the planning stage when determining the best positioning for access points and for troubleshooting when customers complain of performance issues.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless does offer best practice configurations that help prevent rogue devices from connecting and prevent certain types of malicious attacks over the wireless. These features are definitely becoming very helpful.

In comparison with other options in the market, I would rate Cisco Meraki MR Wireless an 8.5 out of 10. Overall, I would give this product a rating of nine.

On-premises

Other

We are using Cisco Meraki network firewalls and switches to manage physical locations. We have multiple retail outlets and stores across approximately 200 locations. Each location has Cisco Meraki firewalls, switches, and access points which are managed through the Cisco Meraki cloud directly.

For Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, the major use case is wireless connectivity. For all physical locations, we use MR devices in sequence: MX, then switch (MS), then MR. These three components are used in all 200 locations and are managed and controlled from the Cisco Meraki cloud. We have multiple topologies for multiple networks, and we push different SSIDs to different groups of locations depending on requirements, which we can easily manage from Cisco Meraki cloud.

I have been working with Cisco Meraki since 2021, which amounts to almost four years of experience.

The installation of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is easy to complete.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless performs similarly to other wireless solutions. We benefit from using Cisco Meraki cloud as it makes manageability easier. Two people can manage 200 locations efficiently.

The RF optimization feature helps improve wireless coverage. In Wi-Fi 5 GHz, there are multiple RF ports, some of which are used by governments and defense systems. We were facing latency in video conferencing with devices using Wi-Fi 5 GHz network. We unselected all those ports from Wi-Fi 5 GHz sections, and now it works properly.

We use WIPS for protecting our network, and the WIPS feature works effectively.

We do not use Layer 7 traffic shaping extensively in Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, except for blocking URLs.

We block URLs and websites by category through Cisco Meraki MR Wireless.

We do not use the analytics feature extensively in Cisco Meraki MR Wireless. We only use the log to trace issues.

Regarding service support, Cisco Meraki does not provide direct support. When raising support tickets, the support is not always effective. Among our tickets, 50% receive proper support and guidance, while the remaining 50% do not receive adequate attention.

I have been working with Cisco Meraki since 2021, which amounts to almost four years of experience.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable.

Regarding service support, Cisco Meraki does not provide direct support. When raising incidents or support tickets, the support is not always effective. Among our tickets, 50% receive proper support and guidance, while the remaining 50% do not receive adequate attention. Based on our experience with Cisco Meraki, I would rate their support as five points out of ten.

Positive

We procure hardware through our partner.

I have compared Cisco Meraki MR Wireless to Aruba. Aruba is more affordable than Cisco Meraki MR Wireless but lacks some of its functionality.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless has a monopoly in the market currently, and the pricing is very high. The service is acceptable. Aruba competes with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, but the pricing remains high, possibly due to brand recognition.

Everything is deployed on-premise. I rate this solution 9 out of 10.

On-premises

Other

My primary use case for Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is to provide wireless LAN access for campus network solutions, and my current customers are primarily from the ATI industry, specifically airports and airlines, using this solution for their back offices and front offices based solutions wherein their users need to come and connect to the environment or the infrastructure needed for doing their day-to-day jobs.

It is a daily use based product wherein the users come and connect securely to the wireless LAN environment of the customer, specifically required for accessing the printers and the backend infrastructure, which is only behind the internet provided via this wireless LAN based solution.

One of the unique stories that we encountered was for an airline of ours which has nearly about 56 sites across the globe, and the zero-touch provisioning access enabled for this particular solution helped us to easily deploy the solution via the Cisco Meraki MR Wireless cloud, wherein the field engineer support was only required to just go ahead and mount the wireless access points and everything else was done via the Meraki cloud by myself or our other solution engineers who were looking at the solution.

I think the best features Cisco Meraki MR Wireless offers include the radio frequency mismatch or matching feature, which I can easily track on the Meraki dashboard, plus the zero-touch provisioning option, wherein it is really easy to set policies and configure the device in a single go once it is connected to the internet or I have the ISP connection terminating or the backend router terminating directly to the access point; it is really easy to install and configure these devices via the Meraki dashboard.

Easy deployment and configuration is the biggest feature that I really appreciate about the solution, plus it allows me to implement basic access-based controls, which gives me the feasibility of having secured connectivity.

Regarding Cisco Meraki MR Wireless's AI capabilities, I think it is good, as there is a separate tab available to manage the same, allowing me to implement a basic set of security and governance for any customer.

I cannot think of any at the moment because the only possible solution we are right now using is HP Aruba, the other competition, and in my opinion, both solutions offer a similar feature set; it is just about the feasibility, and in my view, Cisco is better since Meraki is better, in fact, because it has the zero-touch provisioning feature which is really good, while Aruba has a lot of dependency, so Meraki is already really good; I do not foresee any other improvements at the moment, apart from maybe introducing more security, granular security based, or access based controls.

I think the accuracy of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is almost accurate, but in my opinion, there is a lot of improvisation needed on that side.

I have been using Cisco Meraki MR Wireless for the past two and a half years now because I had been designing the solutions and implementing it for a few of my customers.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is stable in my experience.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is easier to deploy or manage multiple access points via the same Meraki dashboard cloud; I just need more devices and more licenses to add there, and it is very easy to be managed.

There is no problem with customer support; it is easy to raise tickets via the Meraki dashboard itself, and the response time and acknowledgement are quick, so much appreciated.

I previously used a Huawei based solution, and the ease of management and security-wise, the customer was not confident, hence I replaced it with this Cisco-based solution.

Troubleshooting with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is really great; it is feasible via the Meraki dashboard, plus I have a really low number of users complaining at the moment for the past one and a half years since the solution has been implemented, and I have hardly received any problem tickets or incidents yet on my ticketing platforms for the implemented solution, so it seems that the customer is really happy so far.

There was a lot of money saved since I did not have to send many certified engineers on the network side of things; a simple field engineer support was only enough to install the access points at various locations, with the rest done primarily remotely via the network engineers, saving me a lot on the deployment cost.

Since implementing Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, I think it has improvised the signal strength quality via the latest MR routers, which are 6, 6E based enabled routers, improving the user connectivity feature, and there is not much traffic congestion on these access points as they are smart enough to see the number of users connecting daily, giving me a view of unauthorized users attempting to access the environment, which I can easily track from the Meraki dashboard, allowing me to reject such traffic as and when needed, making this scenario secure enough to give me a return on investment eventually.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was very straightforward with no complex licensing requirements; just one single subscription based license on the APs is what is outstanding, making pricing and licensing pretty easy.

It may stand out as a bit expensive solution, but if I need a quality product, then Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is a must and is a great solution.

I am a partner with Cisco.

I have covered everything. My overall review rating for Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is a ten out of ten.

My use case for Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is in automotive retail. I work with a dealership ownership group that currently operates 95 locations.

Some of the best features with the wireless solution are that you have a cloud console, so you don't have to create or manage your own instance of a controller. New features are being added all the time, and you get the benefits as they come in for various AI enhancements.

I have utilized Meraki's RF Optimization to some extent. To do that effectively, I really need accurate floor plans, which I don't yet have. Without having the full picture, I'm operating somewhat blind and have to be careful.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is continuously improving stability, just as other vendors are doing.

I don't deal with Cisco Duo or XDR or Secure Access.

I have recent experience with Cisco and Fortinet. I can answer questions about my experience. I provided a review for Cisco Prime last year. I use Cisco Prime and then Cisco Meraki's dashboard for wireless. With Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, I also deal with their MS Switching. My overall review rating for this product is 3 out of 5.

Public Cloud

Other

The use case involves different sites, including several shops and shopping centers. These are big companies that need products where implementation is easy, which is the reason why they prefer Cisco Meraki MR Wireless.

Our customers use only Cisco Meraki MR Wireless products for their shops, not in a hybrid environment; they use only Meraki.

As a consultant, I think almost all features are the best. For example, we are using Cisco Meraki MR Wireless firewall, MX firewalls, and auto VPN. Most of the time, auto VPN is very usable for our customers because there is no configuration requirement for auto VPN. They only need an internet connection, and when the site provides an internet connection, they can easily connect their products to headquarters and core devices, allowing them to manage them. So, I can say it's the auto VPN feature most of the time.

We are using the SD-WAN feature with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless MX firewall and we are using shaping features. Our customers generally use these features.

The benefit I see from the Layer 7 feature is that we can use all of our links, as our customers generally have two service provider links and we can easily use both of these links for active purposes.

Cloud management is an easy way to monitor and configure the network. When we configure our devices, sometimes our configuration push mechanism is a bit slow, therefore, we wait one or two minutes for our device to be ready for the configuration that will be made. I can say that the cloud management service is successful.

For the security side of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, it includes features for security, switching, and wireless.

Apart from the problem of the configuration mechanism being a bit slow, some advanced features could use improvement. For example, in Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, we do not have the right to configure advanced features such as MTU, Maximum Transmission Unit. If we configure MTU, it affects all of the other sites, and for example, when we configure BGP for our MX devices, by default, Meraki uses IPv6, but we do not use IPv6. This IPv6 routing actually uses several parts of our routing table, almost half of it, which we do not actually need. These are disadvantages of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless; some configurations are not under our control.

Regarding the network analytics feature, it influences the decision-making process because the troubleshooting part of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is sometimes not useful for us, but we actually need and use some troubleshooting features such as ping and traceroute.

Sometimes the technical support from Cisco could be better. When we need support, Cisco support is not always powerful; I can say that we do not always get strong support.

I started working with Meraki Wireless four years ago and I have four years of experience.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is a stable and reliable product, with approximately 99% stability.

It is scalable, except when we need some advanced features. As I mentioned, when we enable BGP, it affects our routing tables because by default, Cisco Meraki MR Wireless enables IPv6, which includes some disadvantages. However, generally, it is scalable.

If I had to rate support, I would give it eight points.

If our customer wants to manage some advanced features, they prefer Fortinet products. But if they are looking for easy implementation, they prefer Cisco Meraki MR Wireless products. We have a strict line for preferring Cisco Meraki or Fortinet.

For example, Fortinet has layer 8 features. As I mentioned, there is no option to configure MTU value in Cisco Meraki MR Wireless; if we configure MTU, all of our organizational environment is affected. However, in Fortinet, we can do it easily. Also, when we configure BGP, we do not use IPv6 for Fortinet, but by default, Cisco Meraki MR Wireless uses IPv6, which conserves our routing table memory. These kinds of things demonstrate disadvantages of using Cisco Meraki. However, if our customer wants to use really advanced features such as web filtering and application control, Meraki provides these features but not as powerfully as Fortinet.

Our clients prefer using Cisco Meraki MR Wireless because its implementation is so easy compared to other products. Implementation and management are easy, therefore, our customers prefer using Meraki products.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is expensive.

Even though Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is expensive, there are several advantages. One of the biggest advantages is that the implementation of this device is so easy, which is the main reason why we prefer Cisco devices, even if they are expensive. There are some big advantages for Cisco Meraki.

We are not working with Meraki RF optimization.

We do not use Air Marshall and WIPS features.

It is quite easy to install on-cloud.

I would rate this product nine out of ten overall.

On-premises

Microsoft Azure

I use the product basically for Wi-Fi access for company computers on premises.

As a user of the product, the biggest advantage for me is that it works seamlessly; users can switch between access points, and it works great.

I am not sure I recall the RF optimization feature, but the coverage is rather fine; the access points select proper frequencies not to interfere with each other, so it works well.

Regarding security features Air Marshal and WIPS, they help with protecting my network, as we use enterprise protocols, so it meets our standards.

I do use cloud management capabilities; that's the base for Meraki. Cloud management capabilities help with monitoring and configuring my network. Meraki is managed from the cloud, so users cannot use that without cloud management.

Overall, Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is a bit pricey; that's the main and probably only disadvantage.

I am not sure if we are using the layer 7 traffic shaping feature for bandwidth management.

I have been dealing with the product for about five years now or so.

I have not seen any glitches, bugs, or stability problems with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless.

I can say the solution is 100% stable.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is very easy to scale in either direction.

My experience with technical support is good.

I would rate support a nine to have space for something, as they provide good assistance.

Positive

I have explored some competitors Ubiquiti but do not recall the reason why Meraki was selected.

I do not remember if there are any differences in pricing or technical features between Cisco and Ubiquiti, as it was a few years ago.

The installation of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is easy for me.

I would rate pricing an eight, as the retail prices are rather high, but if we go as a known customer to Meraki, there are some nice discounts, so the entry cost may be surprising for new customers, but then it is rather reasonable for the features.

I am still dealing with Cisco, and those are quite expensive devices, so those are still in use.

In my domain, I mainly work with switches and access points. All the access points I work with are from Meraki, which is Cisco's brand. Regarding Cisco, I just work with Meraki, as it is our standard.

For Meraki Wireless, I am using those MR access points. As a user and a company admin, I utilize Cisco Meraki MR Wireless products.

Technically Cisco Meraki MR Wireless solution works great for me, with no technical challenges. I mainly work with the analytics part of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless for troubleshooting; nothing utilization or something similar on a daily basis. If something stops working in one or another location, then I investigate, but that's not my main purpose for that product.

To be fair, I would call our environment public, as the site is common and only our customer login is different. I think being a medium company is better than being large.

I rate this solution 9 out of 10.

Public Cloud

Other

The main use case for my customers is that they are using Cisco Meraki MR Wireless for their Wi-Fi users.

Customers use Cisco Meraki MR Wireless across different industries, including plants and enterprise offices. Manufacturing units and banking are using it. Cisco Meraki MR Wireless comes with a single dashboard, and it's a cloud-based solution. Therefore, the customers which have multiple offices, branches, and manufacturing units find it to be a very suitable solution.

The most useful feature of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is its cloud-based management.

Configuring Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is easy because it's a cloud-based solution. Once you connect it, it gets registered on the cloud. You can configure it through there itself, and you don't need to be at the site while configuring.

Layer 7 traffic shaping helps with bandwidth management, and now you have the five gigabit port on the AP itself, so the bandwidth increases. No other wireless OEM provides a bandwidth of five gigabits.

I have worked with the Network Analytics feature in Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, and it's used on the cloud. The Meraki controller, which is a cloud-based controller, allows us to manage multiple Cisco Meraki MR Wireless APs and monitor their performance, user connectivity, signal, and the AP performance itself.

Regarding security features such as Air Marshal and WIPS, the Meraki 1700 series has the WIPS feature. We have used the WIPS feature to prevent rogue APs and to enable the security features in the wireless itself. You don't need to buy any other separate security devices, making it a very effective and useful feature.

The challenge with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is that for any Meraki device, you require internet connectivity to get it registered on the cloud. Most customers do not have internet connectivity due to security reasons as they deny internet access. This creates many challenges for us in configuring Cisco Meraki MR Wireless.

In my opinion, what should be improved in Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is that the AP should initially get configured irrespective of the internet connectivity.

I have been working with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless for more than three years, same as for Meraki MX.

I would rate the technical support for Cisco Meraki MR Wireless very good, giving it a nine out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup for Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is very simple. You don't need to make a setup for this; you just need internet connectivity. Just connect it, and it gets registered, then proceed with the configuration.

It takes about one minute for the initial setup of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless, provided you have internet connectivity. We can preconfigure the AP to a degree; there's a license key that comes with every access point. You just need to put that key on the cloud, and once you do, it automatically gets registered. So it's a process of one minute.

The cost of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is high; the price of one AP to the end customer is approximately 50,000 INR.

I have not had a chance to use Cisco Meraki RF Optimization yet. We proposed it to the customer, but unfortunately, it was not successful as they didn't buy it.

My customers are using Cisco Meraki MR Wireless on the cloud.

I recommend Cisco Meraki MR Wireless to customers who have multiple branches and multiple offices, as it will be very beneficial for them.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Cisco Meraki MR Wireless a nine.

Public Cloud

Other

I have been dealing with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless for two plus years.

Cloud management is something I appreciate; it's an easy product to manage in comparison to many others. My major use case for Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is switching and network.

I don't think there's an advantage with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless; I think it's overpriced for what it does. The pricing is one reason, and there is also a limited feature set without spending more money.

If you have a particular device at a site and want to add the advanced feature set, you may have to upgrade the hardware, which increases your costs. In contrast, products such as Palo Alto and Fortinet typically have all those features built in from day one, and they just need to be licensed, if that.

There are limitations in terms of scalability. My main concern is that Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is overpriced, has limited functionality, and the hardware is not prepared for any further improvements in terms of features.

I was using FortiGate VM for about three years while I was at Victoria University, and we dabbled with it at the Department of Conservation for about a year.

It's stable, but there's a vendor lock-in with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless.

There are limitations in terms of scalability of the product.

In a past life, I have dealt with Cisco Technical Support, and I don't think they're that good.

I would give them a rating of four out of ten for their technical support.

Raising a tech call can be a convoluted mechanism, which impacts my rating.

Neutral

A third party does the installation for us.

I'm never involved in Cisco Meraki MR Wireless installation.

I believe you can do better; you can buy Palo Alto or Fortinet, which will give you three or four times the feature set for an equivalent price.

I don't work with any features such as Cisco Meraki RF Optimization. I just know the equipment that we have.

I don't work with any of the security features such as Air Marshal or WIPS, and my opinion of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless is very low.

We use Cisco Meraki MR Wireless products on-premise only.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Cisco Meraki MR Wireless a five.

On-premises

Microsoft Azure

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless serves the majority of use cases in various sectors like hospitality, real estate, and universities in the UAE. An example is the University of Sharjah, which has a substantial deployment of Cisco Meraki MR Wireless and switching.

Roaming devices offer superior performance, complete with Layer 7 visibility for enhanced security. The captive portal aids in guest network segregation, and the deployment process is very efficient. Cisco Meraki MR Wireless dashboard offers a single pane of glass to configure switching and firewalls.

Network analytics feature is truly beneficial as it provides insights into device connections, data usage by applications, and is helpful for organizational decisions.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless obviates the need for a traditional wireless controller. Cloud management allows easy network monitoring and configuring, which simplifies management. The product offers strong visibility, security, and scalability aspects.

The licensing cost should be reduced to make long-term plans more flexible and affordable. Stronger AI troubleshooting should be integrated, allowing automatic identification of Wi-Fi issues and recommending fixes for bugs.

I have been using this solution for 11 years.

Support level surpasses that of many vendors. They provide next-business-day replacements, ensuring customer satisfaction and a better overall experience with the product.

Account managers are supportive in helping distributors and partners by adjusting margins when opportunities arise, especially for SMB customers.

I sold Fortinet and Aruba besides Cisco Meraki MR Wireless when working for a reseller. Cisco's response and technical support are superior.

Cisco is considered as the most advanced option.

The deployment process is very fast and straightforward, especially with Cisco Meraki MR Wireless dashboard's singular configuration interface.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless helps deliver ROI by reducing both deployment and operational costs, while enhancing network availability. This allows IT teams to manage more locations with fewer resources and offers savings when purchasing multi-year licenses.

While individual savings figures are not provided, buying multi-year licenses indeed cuts costs and enhances value.

Comparing with Fortinet and Aruba, Cisco provides far superior TAC support.

For the SMB market, pricing seems a bit steeper, although the value justifies it.

Cisco Meraki MR Wireless has stopped the Wi-Fi 6 technology, with a transition to Wi-Fi 7 and the need for multi-gig switching for full throughput. Existing perimeter devices accommodate the demand based on market needs and sales continue.

Cisco's ongoing acquisitions lead to market changes and consumer adaptability. I would rate this product a 10.

Other