Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar Reviews

This product is a wireless access point and we use it as part of our network infrastructure to provide wireless access to our employees. It is possible, for example, to integrate a guest's mobile device as their extension. In the past, phones were only available as a physical device in-room.

Once a customer is checked in, they are given a QR barcode that they can use to download the app. Then, that phone will act as their hotel room extension. When they are anywhere on the hotel premises, the operator can reach them using Wi-Fi. It's very simple.

We are a solution provider, and some of our customers are also using it. They are both SMB and enterprise customers, and they use it in the hospitality industry for providing Wi-Fi.

This vendor also sells telephone equipment that we require for other use cases. When our customers use the same vendor for telephone equipment and wireless access points, it makes it easier to implement and manage.

When the use case is a hotel, this solution makes it easy to update everything for the guests, such as the hotel page or advertising. Everything can be integrated using this Wi-Fi solution.

We can manage all of the access points and policies from a single pane of glass.

We are very satisfied with the performance.

Integrates well with PMS, bandwidth managers, and other systems.

Better integration with third-party systems is what our customers are expecting in the future. For example, if they want to add four or five access points and they want to use Alcatel-Lucent, it will not work with an existing Cisco or Aruba product. This is a problem with other vendors, as well, because they use their own protocols that do not work with third-party products.

Essentially, we would like to see better interoperability with access points from other vendors. Multi-vendor installations will work alongside each other but will not work together. They will each be part of their own cluster. Ideally, we don't want multiple clusters. The protocols that they use should not be vendor-specific.

If all of the manufacturers supported interoperability then customers would not need to make an additional investment. Rather, their existing equipment can be used. This would be preferable to the situation as it is now.

An example of this is telephone systems that use the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Any phone of any brand will work. If it supports this protocol then we can just connect it and use it. If the same thing were true with access points then we could mix and match without any problems.

We have been using the Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar access point for approximately four years.

This is a very stable product. The manufacturer provides a lifetime warranty so there is no need to worry in that regard. It is well supported.

We are using this product with many of our customers, and there haven't been any issues with stability or performance.

This is suitable for small, medium, and enterprise-level companies.

We have approximately 200 clients that use this solution.

The Alcatel technical support is fast. You simply call and they can provide you with support, 24/7. We can also contact them by email.

Certification is required to access the manufacturer's support.

We are a solution provider and we have more than 500 customers that have purchased similar equipment from many different vendors. As such, I have experience with similar products from Cisco, Juniper, Ubiquity, HPE, Aruba, and others.

The Alcatel-Lucent feature set is similar to what Cisco and Aruba are providing. The use cases are similar, as well. This is one of the reasons that we recommend Alcatel-Lucent.

The choice of product is largely dependent on the customer's preference. For example, some people like Cisco products. If their mind is set on Cisco then we can't often change it, so we sell them the Cisco product. If it is just a question of performance, then whatever the customer needs can be provided by Alcatel-Lucent.

The installation is straightforward and although it is not complicated, we need to have the proper expertise. If somebody doesn't know this product then it will be very complex. That's why we have people who are trained on the product and have certifications from the vendor.

For people that are certified, the setup is easy. This is the same case with other vendors; those who are trained on the product can configure it. It depends on the technician's expertise.

The price of this product is average and it is a one-time, perpetual license.

When compared with other vendors, the cost of Alcatel-Lucent is less than Cisco but more expensive than Linksys.

Overall, this is a good product and I recommend it.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

We are installing this solution for our enterprise customers for access, applications, mail, and CRM. The product can also be used to provide access for remote workers.

The solution's most valuable aspects include its BYOD features, user network profiles, and unified communication.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. 

The solution needs to improve access for Mac and iOS devices.

There are occasional OS bugs.

I've been using the solution over the last three or so years. I've used it for a while now.

The product is 80% is stable. The only real issue is when there is an OS bug. Only then will there be an issue. The OEM is doing the OS bugs fixing.

The solution is scalable. It works for any size of company, no matter if it's a small business, enterprise, government, education, hospitality, or any other type of customer.

It's also easy to scale, as it's a soft controller. You just have to add on the licenses. It can scale up to 4,000 access points.

Our company tends to provide technical support to our clients if they need our help.

That said, if there is an OS bug or there is a vulnerability, then OEM needs to be aware the bug needs to be fixed. With regard to that, we contact technical support.

We also use Aruba. We use both simultaneously.

The solution offers a pretty simple setup. It's not overly complex or difficult. A company shouldn't have any issues with the process. However, it does depend on the organizational requirements.

The time it takes to deploy the solution also varies. A smaller setup, for example, may only take about two days. However, a larger setup could take longer.

We are a premium partner of Alcatel-Lucent.

Overall, I would recommend this solution to other users and companies.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

Other resellers are successfully implementing this solution for healthcare. They are using this Stellar solution for the wireless. The use cases are designed for the attendee only. We're working with educational institutions, healthcare organizations, and small hospitality businesses.

The solution is deployed on-premises. Cloud is not accepted in Pakistan, especially on the WiFi.

The features aren't much different than those in Aruba, but deployment is easier to configure and the pricing is better.

If the customers plan to go on the cloud side, they need encryption and daily communications from a security perspective.

We're facing integration issues with it. Customers want to engage with their PA systems on WiFi  because they want to create certain, small zones where they can do announcements through the wireless.

I've been associated with Alcatel for almost more than 20 years.

In the beginning we faced challenges. After a couple of years, it's quite stable now.

It's scalable for medium enterprises. For a large enterprise, we still have to rely on human access, not Stellar anymore because we have a limitation on how many access points we can control from the human access Stellar platform. So the number of APs are limited, which is quite notable for a large organization looking for 1,000 or 2,000 APs.

Technical support is very good.

It's pricey, but better than similar solutions.

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

Sometimes, we're not able to meet the complex requirement with Stellar.