Ekahau Site Survey Reviews

We use Ekahau for site surveys to demonstrate the quality of Wifi networks. We are deploying it for our clients, who usually have a private cloud.

I like Ekahau's interface and the reports it can generate.

They should improve the iPad application because it's unstable. Also, Ekahau could be better integrated with other vendors. 

I have been using Ekahau for two years.

Ekahau is stable on the laptop, but the iPad app isn't stable.

Ekahau is scalable.

I rate Ekahau support seven out of 10. It could be improved.

Deploying Ekahau is medium difficulty. We need two specialists for deployment. 

I rate Ekahau Site Survey nine out of 10. It's an original product that could be the standard on the market. It has a good price point. 

Importing DWG files that identify the types of walls, doors, glass, and other structural materials is valuable. The other useful tool is the ability to enter the exact model number of an access point to get accurate planning information.

We can do a predictive survey in half the time it used to take, now that we can import CAD files and identify wall types.

• Being able to import BIM files

I have used it for five years.

We have not encountered any deployment issues.

We have not encountered any stability issues.

We have not encountered any scalability issues.

Customer service is excellent; always there to answer questions or assist with an issue; very open to feedback on how to improve the product.

Technical support is excellent.

We did not previously use a different solution.

The setup was straight forward.

An in-house team implemented it.

ROI was less than a year.

This product is priced aggressively compared to other products; well worth the investment.

Before choosing this product, we also evaluated AirMagnet.

Recent upgrades allows opacity view on the heat maps, allowing the floor plan to have better visibility. What I like is that Ekahau regularly takes the advice of real users and categorizes these point and adds them in product version releases. In other words, Ekahau really listens to their customers!

One area would be to allow several files to be opened and the ability to close only one of the files.

At present, if you have several files open, you must close the entire program to close the one file. A workaround is to open a new instance of ESS, but would be nice if you do not need to do this.

When a user has two surveys done at different times (Survey1 and Survey2), and at a later time, wants to open both of them at the same time, ESS allows a user to do that. However, the software does not allow you to close one of the surveys unless you completely close out ESS.

This is not a big issue, as I mention the workaround is to open up each survey in a new instance of ESS. IOW, to ESS and open it, then select open Survey1. Then open another instance of ESS and select Survey2.

It is more of a convenience feature. For example, if you have two MS Word docs open, you can to File/Close and close one of the docs. In ESS, you cannot do that yet.

3+ years

Deployment does take about 20-30 seconds, as it is a large program, so that's acceptable.

No.

From small to large surveys, Ekahau seems to function well. I have heard that very large surveys (e.g. 20-floor building) can cause issues, but I have not personally experienced that.

9 out of 10. They listen and respond to you, sometimes in a couple of hours. Excellent customer service.

9 out of 10. Customer service seems to link straight to technical support and issue resolution is fast and sometimes in less than a day.

Yes, easy setup with the wizard.

I have done both. Vendor team sent registration code, copy and paste and setup was fast.

Site survey software is not inexpensive. But it is vital for the WLAN professional. Call Ekahau and get a trial version and if pricing is an issue, ask them what they can do.

I have used trial versions of all leading site survey software. All have a bit of a learning curve. (AirMagnet, Tamosoft, iBwave).

Just a customer service story: I needed an AP listed for a predictive model that was not listed in ESS. I sent a request to have this one added to ESS and within three hours, the response came back with the file I needed to copy and paste into ESS to use this AP model! Three hours! Unbelievably responsive and outstanding customer service. Ekahau listens and responds to their customers!

• Import Autocad layers into Ekahau

The speed, accuracy, and reliability has improved the way my organization functions.

I have used it for two years.

We have not encountered any deployment issues.

We have not encountered any stability issues.

We have not encountered any scalability issues.

Customer service is good.

Technical support is good.

We have replaced all AirMagnet kit with Ekahau.

Initial setup was straightforward.

The ROI is great.

Switch to Ekahau.

Before choosing, we also evaluated MetaGeek.

MetaGeek also has exceptional products.

• Planning a WiFi network: You can estimate the number of APs you need without error. It works fine!
• It is perfect for knowing the problems of a WiFi network. You can see the radio state.

With this tool, you can plan the WiFi network without error.

This tool needs too many of the resources (RAM) of your PC.

I have used it for five years.

We have not encountered any deployment issues.

We have not encountered any stability issues.

We have not encountered any scalability issues.

The customer service answers quickly and correctly. If you have a problem, they solve it.

I did not previously use a different solution.

The use of this tool is very easy. In addition, you have many tutorials on the Ekahau website.

Before choosing this product, I did not evaluate other options.

I have found the most valuable feature is the RF interference and integration capabilities. While upgrading or adding on different hardware to a solution you need to use propriety hardware from the manufacturer sometimes for it to be compatible, this solution integrates well with other hardware. Additionally, the solution is reliable and has a high percentage of accuracy.

Sometimes there is a cancellation between two signals that the solution is not able to monitor correctly, this could improve in the future. I believe there is some kind of scattering happening preventing the solution from detecting the two signals correctly.

In a future release, I would like to see integration with wifi controllers, such as Aruba controllers.

I have been using the solution for many years.

The stability is very good with this solution. 

The initial installation is straightforward. It is easy, you can do it in a matter of minutes.

The solution is priced fairly for the features that you receive. 

There are solutions that can provide some of the functionality of the solution for free. 

I rate Ekahau Site Survey a nine out of ten.