Cambium Networks Wireless LAN Reviews

In the context of wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) deployments for enterprise use, the process typically begins with identifying specific areas within a building where wireless access points, often referred to as hotspots, are needed. The client provides information regarding the locations of these hotspots. As a network designer and implementer, my role involves creating a design plan for the wireless network. I use a combination of RF tools and physical networking tools to develop a comprehensive plan. This plan includes determining the required quantity of access points (APs), switches, cable lengths, and router specifications, and identifying entrance points for cabling. Once the design is complete and all the necessary equipment details are specified, we communicate with the client to discuss the plan.

It offers features that are essential for an efficient and high-performance wireless LAN deployment, where capacity, coverage, and quality are optimized, and frequency bands are selected based on the specific needs of the network.

The goal is to use fewer antennas while maintaining coverage and capacity. This approach is not only practical but also cost-effective as installing numerous access points in a room or facility can be expensive. We would appreciate it if it allowed us to optimize the number of access points while still providing customers with the same level of coverage, capacity, and quality. The solution should be scalable, offering better pricing options as we optimize the network for coverage, capacity, and quality.

I have been working with it for nine years.

It provides good stability features. I would rate it eight out of ten.

It is highly scalable. I would rate it eight out of ten.

Based on the feedback I've received, there's always someone ready to respond globally, regardless of the time zone, to address any issues or take your calls when needed.

Initially, I worked with Aruba, then moved on to Ruckus, and now I'm employing Cambium Networks for my current project. The choice between these manufacturers ultimately hinges on our ability to maintain high-quality service at a reasonable price.

The setup can be quite variable, typically tailored to each unique situation. We have straightforward installations in simple buildings where automation streamlines the process. However, when customers require more extensive coverage, spanning multiple floors, it becomes a bit more complex, hovering in the midrange of complexity. The real challenge isn't necessarily placing the access points (APs) but rather wiring them properly.

Implementing around four to five antennas typically takes a full day or night, not just an eight-hour workday. This is because the process involves thorough planning, ensuring proper cable bending, avoiding damage, and drilling, among other tasks. It's a meticulous job that requires a team of at least three people and can involve up to seven, depending on the speed and the size of the area being covered.

I would place it in the mid-range market segment, balancing affordability and profitability. While we prioritize offering competitive prices, it's essential to emphasize that maintaining top-notch quality remains our utmost priority, with no compromises.

It provides a comprehensive set of solutions, including point-to-point and point-to-multipoint setups. I rate it eight out of ten.

We're using Cambium Networks Wireless LAN for Wi-Fi purposes only.

What I like best about Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is that it's easy to configure, has no licensing hassle, and is a controller-based solution.

What could be improved in Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is its efficiency in large areas because we noticed that there's a need to increase the APs in large rooms or spaces for the Wi-Fi to be more efficient.

Another area for improvement in Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is bandwidth management. This is a feature that Meraki has that allows you to control user bandwidth, so my company has a pilot project to test Meraki Wireless LAN.

Bandwidth control is an additional feature I'd like to see in Cambium Networks Wireless LAN as that would make the solution better.

We've been using Cambium Networks Wireless LAN since 2017.

Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is a stable solution.

Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is a scalable solution.

Usually, we get technical support from our vendor. We're satisfied with the support we get for Cambium Networks Wireless LAN, and we don't always require high-level support. It's the vendor that provides us with high-level technical support. If the issues are about configuring or deploying Cambium Networks Wireless LAN, we can take care of those issues ourselves.

The initial setup for Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is very easy. You can just integrate with a Wi-Fi controller, do some configurations, add some VLANs, then connect to the solution, and it'll work.

We haven't calculated whether we had ROI from Cambium Networks Wireless LAN or not because we need Wi-Fi and we are using Wi-Fi, so we have to deploy it. We didn't need to check on ROI and whether it's economical to use Cambium Networks Wireless LAN.

The pricing for Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is much cheaper than Meraki. For example, I have to pay $200 for one AP from Cambium, while for a Meraki AP, I have to pay $450 including the user license. Meraki has a higher price over Cambium Networks Wireless LAN.

My company still uses Cambium Networks Wireless LAN but is in the planning phase of using Meraki.

Between six hundred to seven hundred people within my organization use Cambium Networks Wireless LAN.

Two administrators, myself included, take care of the deployment and maintenance of Cambium Networks Wireless LAN across the organization. I work at the head office and my colleague and I provide support for the solution to seventy locations. For example, if someone requires Wi-Fi, I just give him the password, and the Wi-Fi will work. It's very easy. If there's a deployment issue in the sales office, I'll just configure it from the head office, and it'll work.

I would tell people planning to implement Cambium Networks Wireless LAN that it's one of the cheaper solutions in the market.

My rating for Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is eight out of ten.

I'm a user, not a reseller or partner of Cambium Networks Wireless LAN.

How the product is used depends on the customer requirements. It's based on what we are doing with the solution design.

It can be used in different sectors, including hospitality and governmental sectors. 

Cambium itself is now focusing on more enterprise solutions in the hospitality sector. It's reducing the cost. Cambium is a one-time investment. There is no other extra cost to buy a controller or buy a license. If I implement Cambium, it has a lot of features. The main advantage is that Cambium provides a five-year warranty and all the devices and it can be managed from cloud cnMaestro, which is free of cost. Therefore, it helps save an organization on costs. 

Cambium recently launched the 6 GHz band. If the customer buys Cambium hardware, they don't need to change the hardware in the future. If they want to change the band to 5 GHz or if they want to change the band to 2.4 GHz, they can, without changing the hardware. This is the most advantageous feature.

It's easy to set up.

It is a stable solution. 

We can scale it if we need to. 

Support has been helpful.

We have witnessed a great ROI.

The capacity and coverage could be improved. Nowadays, for the end user, there could be more features. 

API integration features should be free. 

I've been working with the solution since 2014. That's almost eight years. 

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. 

It is scalable. 

There is a ticketing system for technical support. If I put the ticket, there are various priorities - high, medium, and low. I get a reply within eight hours if it is a high priority. If I need on-call support or remote support, they can provide it.

Positive

The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. 

We have one person that can handle deployment and maintenance tasks. 

The deployment times depend on the project. If the project is big, then it'll take time. If the project is small, then it'll be fast. 

The main thing is if the site conditions are okay. If the site conditions have dependencies, there is passive work. If the passive work is done for Cambium deployment, the device configuration is not going to take more than five to ten minutes for each device. Most use cases of Cambium have the deployment managed centrally from cnMaestro and the thing is just plug-and-play. To complete the installation and configuration is not going to take more than one or two days.

We have a technical team in Bangladesh that can handle limited deployments.

As we are the distributor, our customer is a system integrator. The system integrator themselves have lots of engineers who look after the end user. As we are the distributor, my role is to train and understand Cambium products. I understand that two or three engineers are enough to do a deployment for the development of a project.

In terms of the return of investment, the main advantage is the device has a five-year warranty and its RMA claim process is very easy. If I claim the warranty, I don't need to send back the device. I will just do the RMA claim and Cambium will provide me with new devices free of cost. Also, they launch triple band devices - 2.4, 5 GHz and then 6 GHz. It means that it is a one-time investment; I don't need to change the hardware for the future.

I'd rate the ROI we can expect at a five out of five. 

They're offering two solutions for the controller. One is Cambium cnMaestro Essentials, which is free of cost. The other one is cmMaestro X. cmMaestro Essentials has a limited shelf of features. cmMaestro X is a paid version and there is no limitation on the features and there are more advanced options. If you need the more advanced features, then you need to buy the cmMaestro X and this depends on the part device licensing.

The licensing is per device. It's possible to get a discount, however, it's a bit costly - much like Cisco. I'd rate the licensing affordability at a three out of five. 

I used to be a user at a different company. Now I work for an organization that is a South Asia Pacific master distributor of Cambium.

We're not necessarily just using the latest version of the solution. 

As of now, I have not deployed or implemented an on-premises solution. However, I do work with the cloud. 

In a large deployment we did, this solution was deployed for a hotel in Bangladesh. This building had 204 guest rooms, seven restaurants, and a big lobby. This is the biggest project I have implemented. It had 120 indoor devices. There might be 200 users on the solution. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

If someone is looking to implement Cambium Wireless LAN they should check the device. The technology is very fast moving. They need to secure their investment before implementing and ensure they'll be getting something that lasts. 

We use them as a complete solution from wireless connections including indoor and outdoor and then combine them together in our network. Sometimes we have hospitals that use the solution, however, mainly we use it in hotels. We use the solution to give services to our customers.

Our company started with the solution ten or so years ago and after that, we developed fast. At this moment, we are one of the top solution providers in the hotel and hospitality business.

They're always very helpful to us. They send their technician out from India to Indonesia to help us. We have been very pleased. 

It's very robust.

It's easy to deploy. 

The after-sales services are helpful. Sometimes, when we don't know something, we can just ask the representative. It's really, really helpful for us.

They always update their firmware. If there's any bug or something wrong, people put it in the forum, and then they are very fast to troubleshoot the issue and change the firmware.

The solution just needs to keep doing standard improvements.

There's competition coming in from China and it's half the price. They need to stay competitive in terms of offering and price. There's a solution called Ruijie that is coming from China and growing in popularity.

We've found issues in the past when a user connects with an Apple product. This happened two or three years ago, and they sent a technician to look at the problem. They used firmware to solve the issue and it's my understanding that it's better now. 

The problem with this radio wireless technology is that it cannot compete in terms of bandwidth with fiber optics at this moment. That's the biggest weakness.

There could be more bandwidth and less latency. It should be as close to the server as possible. If they could make 20 megahertz channels for megabits throughput, that would be better. 

I've used the solution for five to six years. 

The stability is very great. The PMP 1000, the earliest product, we still deploy it. We still have some of the products on our customer sites and then they are still with us after five years. It lasts a long time. It's reliable. 

I'd rate scalability five out of five. It's very easy to scale. 

We have around 1,000 to 2,000 users on the solution. 

Technical support is great. They'll come right to us if necessary. We are very pleased with their level of support.

Positive

We use fixed wireless broadband in our network. It's been quite a long time since we deployed. The earlier products are still in the field at this moment. It's built well and we've had it for five years in the field already without having to replace it. 

The time it takes to deploy varies. If we put it in-house for broadband wireless access, maybe it will take just two to three hours maximum. The difficulty is only the cabling. That said, connecting the radio to the sector, it's very easy.

For deployment, we only need just two people. For the maintenance itself, we need just one person. There's nothing special when it comes to maintenance. For a project such as a hotel, we might need five people to deploy it. 

I'm not sure about the cost. It may be free if you are on the cloud. High-end products from Cambium PTP, point-to-point radio, maybe cost around $1000 per year. I'm not 100% sure.

There are other options. In Indonesia itself, we have UBNT, and from China we have Ruijie. There's also Ruckus, Cisco, and Aruba. Those are all great competitors to Cambium.

We are an end-user of the solution.

I hope they keep improving with new products, and with new solutions. I have checked their website these last two or three years. Due to the pandemic, there have been no significant improvements lately. I'm searching for more bandwidth, a more economical price, and that kind of thing.

I'd rate the solution an eight out of ten. If I was asked before the pandemic, it'd be nine, however, I don't see any significant improvements at this moment.

We use this solution for WiFi network management for our clients. It is mostly utilized for public safety on high-end devices.

This solution is extremely user-friendly; it is very easy to configure and work with.

We would like this product to have more information data sheets available. At present we cannot easily access details around the full capability of a piece of equipment.

We have been using this solution for 10 to 15 years.

We haven't experienced any stability issues during our time using this solution.

We believe this to be a highly scalable solution.

We found the customer support team to be very responsive. However, they have a very rigid process of asking basic questions before escalating an issue to the correct team to resolve it, which can be frustrating.

We have previously worked with other partners, but we selected this solution because of its balance between quality and price.

We found the original implementation of this solution to be straightforward because of the level of experience we had.  However, upgrades to this product over time, have now meant that this can now be done easily by anyone, due to the development of handy integrated videos, and how-to videos which are directly accessible if either the cloud-based or on-premises management software.

We implemented the solution using a combination of reseller integration partners, and our own teams expertise.

The licensing costs for this solution are calculated per asset, and depending on the model of the equipment, it starts at $230, and goes up to roughly $1,200. The benefit of this solution is that there are no hidden costs; no cost for managing the equipment, and no cost for maintaining the equipment during its usable lifetime.

We recommend that organizations consult with the professional WLAN; this is a wireless device and without proper planning and installation, it won't work. This way, if there are specific requirements for the wireless WLAN, they can be confident in the solution.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

They all have controllers built in, and we manage them all with a web-based management tool.

Obviously, one of the reasons we're getting ready to upgrade the equipment is that it's five years old. 

Our areas for improvement would be a refresh with the most recent technology available. 

When we look at this, we will look at all vendors, not just Cambium, but I am not sure if we will stay with them, but in general, they work pretty well, and it is simple to manage.

It would be nice if it were a little less expensive, but their prices are comparable to others.

We are currently primarily using Xirrus. Cambium has recently acquired Xirrus.

It is still known as Xirrus, but Cambium Networks now owns it.

We are preparing to issue an RFP for an upgrade.

The stability of Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is good.

We have been using them with the current generation for over five years. 

We had Xirrus in here before that as well; we have been using Xirrus since, 2010, I believe. That is equivalent to 12 years.

Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is a scalable solution.

They enable a high level of connectivity. 

Sometimes we have to make adjustments because a room's purpose changes over time. 

We have had to rearrange things a little bit, but obviously, we are looking into the future and hoping to leverage things like Wi-Fi 6E.

The technical support is great.

Tech support has been excellent, despite the fact that they have been sold a few times. Since we have been with Xirrus, their product has been sold a few times. 

Cambium was not the first.

Technical support has changed. 

The Xirrus team has remained committed to their product's support team. 

They are very knowledgeable and communicate effectively. They are on time. 

We have had to army a few units, but replacements arrived within a few days. 

They have excellent support.

Pricing is reasonable. None of this wireless equipment is cheap, at least not on an enterprise level. 

In general, the way we purchased it was we purchased it at the beginning, was with five years of support, once our initial cost was met, we didn't have to pay for anything else.

I would consider them.

Previously, we were more of a Cisco shop, using controllers and, I don't know, just the ability to have all of these units stand alone on their own and have their own controllers built in, and they have really good coverage and are easy to manage.

I know there are two schools of thought. The first option is to get a cheap access point and then spend a lot of money on a controller. They are kind of dumb access points that are controlled, and in this case, it is the opposite, where you have a smart access point and a very low-cost control.

Now that it's web-based, there is a management subscription, which we bought for about five years. Once the five years are up, I guess we will have to start paying for it. I honestly don't know what that is, but based on what we saw, it seems reasonable. Let's see what happens.

I would recommend that people look into smart access points because they are great.

I would rate Cambium Networks Wireless LAN an eight out of ten. I am pretty happy with it.

Not a lot of technical engineers are familiar with Cambium Networks Wireless LAN. They are familiar with implementing and using other solutions such as Aruba. Therefore, Cambium Networks needs to be more visible in the marketplace.

I have been using it for a couple of months.

It is a stable solution.

The solution is scalable as well. Approximately 20 engineers use this solution in my company.

Technical support is not great but not too bad either. They are slow at times.

Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is easy to deploy. The implementation can take two weeks to four months.

I deployed it myself with the help of other engineers.

Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is cheaper than Aruba.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Cambium Networks Wireless LAN at seven.

I like how they have a single point of contact for administration. The web-based administration is what I find most beneficial.

I would like them to add some kind of web filtering, as well as the ability to add content filtering. That is something I would like them to be able to do.

If they could include some sort of web filtering, in-built antivirus, anti-malware, and data stream scanning in the next release. And if they include that, it would be a perfect solution.

I have been working with Cambium Networks Wireless LAN for five years.

Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is a stable solution.

Cambium Networks Wireless LAN is a scalable product.

I have everything from a single person in a home to a large installation with over 40 wireless access points, which is quite large.

Technical support is very knowledgeable.

We also work with Cambium Wireless WAN.

Previously, I worked with Ubiquiti and NETGEAR. We have a legacy system mobile. When compared with Cambium, I recommend Cambium Networks Wireless LAN.

Cambium, in my opinion, completely outperforms them.

The implementation process is exceedingly easy.

Cambium's initial price is a problem because it is more expensive than the others, but if you calculate the total cost of ownership over three years, Cambium probably works out better because there are no license fees.

The cost is determined by the item purchased. A wireless system has so many different types of applications. You have to consider if you need it outdoors, indoors, and across multiple sites, or if you require more than one website.

It's a good price, but not the best price. It's on the higher end of what I would call affordable for small to medium-sized businesses.

I would recommend hiring someone who knows what they are doing. This is the secret because is it easy to make an error, and easily ruin it.

We are partners with Cambium Networks Wireless LAN.

It's a marvelous system, I would rate Cambium Networks Wireless LAN an eight out of ten.