Meraki MS Switches Reviews

We are a solution provider and the Meraki MS Switches are one of the products that we implement for our clients as part of their network infrastructure.

One of our typical use cases is connecting stores within a retail environment.

The SD-WAN capability is already integrated and it is excellent.

It can easily tie into the backend of Azure.

The most valuable feature is the granular visibility that they provide with a single pane of glass. It is a very useful dashboard.

The pain point for our customers is the pricing and it should be reduced to make it more competitive.

We have been dealing with this product for a couple of years.

I haven't had any problem with Cisco at all. I would say that they are pretty solid in terms of stability.

Different switch models are chosen based on the size of the site. We use certain models at smaller sites, whereas we use different models for the larger sites. Overall, scalability is excellent.

Technical support is good and they are on top of everything.

I work with several similar products by different vendors and sometimes, people buy them instead because they are cheaper.

The initial setup is straightforward. The administration is usually handled by people like the VP of technology in the company.

The pricing is high and it is where we get the most pushback from customers.

My advice for anybody who is considering this type of product is to do the research. From my experience, Meraki switches sell themselves and the only thing that people contest is the price.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

There are many use cases for the solution. We implement them mainly for SMEs.

The switches, overall, are very good.

The newest switches, in particular, are excellent.

The initial setup is simple.

The problem that we saw with some customers is that it's very hard to train them to manage everything on the cloud, and some customers don't want this. 

The firewall is not very powerful. The other week, one of the switches only gave one gigabit of output. It's become a concern for our customers.

It is very difficult to know what we should do. There should be a queue available to connect over the VPN. However, there was a lack of an image in the other queue. Once, when a customer wanted to tour the system, there were issues with connectivity to the VPN, which was offputting. 

The solution is very stable. We've tested it extensively and it's very good. It's also quite fast. A company doesn't have to fear reliability with Meraki. They shouldn't expect to deal with bugs or glitches. It's reliable.

The scalability is very good on the backend. We've even run some stress tests to see how the solution would hold up to expansion and have had great results. If an organization needs to scale up, they can do so with Meraki. It's not a problem at all.

The solution offers okay technical support. Users need pretty good access to senior engineers on the technical support team. Sometimes you have really bad errors on the site and you need very advanced help. A more junior technical support staff member will not be able to assist. Meraki needs to continue to work to ensure senior staff is available to deal with those levels of calls as they happen. A user expects to have a senior engineer to take the question from the beginning to the end if big issues arise.

Last week or last month we had an issue where we really needed a senior engineer and the support staff we got originally didn't know how to answer our questions. We had to pay for a more senior engineer.

We also use Aruba and HPE switches. We use a combination.

We've found the setup to be very straightforward.

On the promotion side, the marketing team will help when something goes wrong. You can write to someone at the company and they can help troubleshoot any issues as soon as something comes up.

Typically, it only takes about one day to deploy a switch. For a simple deployment, we just take it and connect it to the new port, and then we just connect everything to the computer. It's very easy. We haven't had issues or complications.

We're an integrator; we implement the solution for our clients.

We typically sign contracts for years as opposed to yearly. One year might be a bit expensive, but if you choose a long-term contract, it's very good. The pricing is very good. It's quite competitive in the marketplace. There are others that are much more expensive than this product. It's affordable, even for small companies.

We're an integrator. We tend to test things before we send them to our customers.

We are a very small company, we are constantly looking for competitive pricing, as we don't have big budgets to throw around.

The solution is very good. From using the software to deployment, Meraki is good. Even enterprises would benefit from using the solution. Although we typically deal with smaller companies, I'd pick Meraki every time.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. I would rate it higher, however, we have unique needs for the VPN, and require complex software features

We primarily use the solution for clients who need LAN access points.

The solution's most valuable aspect is the ease of stacking. The configuration on the MS Switches is very good, as well as its ability to assign the LANs.

The visibility of the solution is very good.

The solution needs to improve its ability to back up the auto-configuration.

The stability of the solution is good. I'd rate it nine out of ten.

The solution is easy to stack, which makes it scalable.

Overall, the solution's technical support has been helpful. They will stay with you for hours to help you sort out any issues and will help to review or check if the configurations are good.

We also use HP switches. We use both for various clients and which we use is largely based on the client's budget.

The initial setup is quite easy. The time it takes to deploy depends on the configuration requirements. It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours. You only need one to two people to set it up.

There's a license fee. Sometimes you have to pay for extra services on top of that.

In terms of advice, I'd tell others to make sure they take a screenshot of their configuration if they don't have a good backup for the platform.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for our production, mainly our processing, and for some internal uses surrounding the sovereignty of data. 

The technical support is very good. They offer some of the best support on the market.

The pricing of the product needs to be improved. I find that Cisco products are usually priced quite high.

The solution needs to improve its scalability.

The solution is stable most of the time, but occasionally we have faced unpredictable issues that has affected the solution's stability for a short time. This has happened only two times over the last five years.

The solution is not scalable. If you need to scale, you need to change the equipment. Currently, about 100 users in our company are using Meraki MS switches.

Technical support is very good.

The initial setup is complex. We needed some specialized techs who were familiar with the setup.  We have very complex architecture, therefore it took us a few weeks to deploy the solution.

At first we had the assistance of an integrator, but afterwards, we handled the implementation by ourselves.

We use the on-premises deployment model.

My advice to others would be that they have good knowledge of Cisco products before attempting to implement the solution. This is most important for successful deployment.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. I'd rate it higher if it offered better scalability and more competitive pricing.

The primary use case is for local network connectivity for our customers.

The most valuable features are the cloud management, the monitoring, and the visibility available on the report's facts on the cloud controller.

The quote-building process is challenging and it needs to be simplified.

It is difficult to create a bill of materials and there should be a bundled solution. You still have to select different items from certain locations to build the solution. You can end up leaving out certain items that are needed unless you understand how everything works. Examples are the power supply and the power cable, which are not on the list by default. There should be a top-level part number that allows you to put all of the options that are available, rather than selecting each and every item separately and putting them together.

This solution is stable. I haven't had any issues.

This solution is scalable. It is easy to expand. 

Once the implementation is done and you have endpoints, then you can easily move configurations or copy from one site to another.

We have five to ten IT managers using this solution.

I am satisfied with the customer service and technical support.

The initial setup was straightforward.

This solution is deployed on-premises, but it is cloud-managed.

To implement this solution, I had the help of an integration company and I am not an end-user.

While I had assistance in the implementation, I didn't feel that I needed it.

This is a solution that can be considered for starting a small environment, to a large environment because it is easy to scale and it gives them the inbuilt visibility that comes with the solution.

There is also the ease of integration and migration from the unfinished to the defined environment.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

When I'm advising customers on solutions I have to know what they need. If they are happy using a cloud management platform and they are looking at running more than a single line of business, then having the web portal with Meraki is a simple solution. It provides a single-pane-of-glass in terms of management. It is easy to switch between the wireless, the security, and controlling the switching if they own all of those different technologies provided by Meraki. With other vendor brands, you might find that the operating cost would potentially increase due to them having to manage different platforms.

The most valuable feature for us are the APIs. Development there has been very exciting and now we can actually drill down to client levels. What that means is that when I look at the portal I can drill down to the users that are logged on to the network and see what they are using the network for. It is very valuable to us and the client to have that ease of use and the capability of providing high-level service and service quality on the switches. It is a nice and easy way of leveraging utility and resources by pushing out policies from a single location to wherever my Meraki devices may be.

If I was an IT manager and I had sites globally, Meraki would be a perfect fit. I could reach the devices that are overseas without me or anyone else having to touch them. It is very much like zero-touch deployment, which is fantastic. An obvious bonus is that this capability is still backed by Meraki R&D with talented teams to support it. When changes and new features come out, I don't have to worry about doing software upgrades on devices because it's all done in the cloud. They just load it up and on you go. Of course, many other things are happening with Meraki and other developments that they are working on with Cisco. The whole story will come out in the resolution of what they choose to do on the security side of things and what capabilities you can gain by using Cisco and Meraki together.

A complaint that I might have about the services is the compliance risk response. If I or our clients put too many devices on a network, threatening emails get triggered by Meraki saying that we are out of compliance. It can put unnecessary fear into the customer of the product that their services will be curtailed or that they will have to pay escalated fees. The customer in turn then pushes the problem on to the reseller — us — which can create an awkward situation. We are seen as a less-trusted advisor because what we provided was poorly planned. I think there is a major problem with warning clients in that way. I've started hearing customers wishing that they had not gotten into a subscription just because of that policy. It is all well good having a subscription policy but making customers edgy is making some consider switching away from Meraki. Losing customers due to the means of enforcement of the subscription service is pretty ill-advised.

I think one of the things that Meraki started to develop and then held back on is unified communications. Meraki started beating the drum about using Meraki for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and then they suddenly stopped it. It would be nice to actually see that coming to the market, especially in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa). With Cisco's acquisitions such as Broadsoft, Meraki could potentially invest in that technology, so they would be able to provide a voice platform backed by Cisco. It could be an excellent situation and fulfill their promises at the same time.

There's been a couple of challenges with the stability of the solution. For example, a year ago some of the software products that were going into the switches were not functioning as expected. You cannot really fault the product for that exactly. They are nine out of ten in terms of stability. You turn them on, they work, they get along with other components, and they keep working.

Meraki is scalable but it's only seen as a stackable switch solution. The one thing is the mid-market where obviously Meraki has traditionally had most of their focus on. So, when you buy switches and you want to scale, you have to have them in switch stacks. What Meraki hasn't done — and missed a bit of an opportunity in my opinion — is they've not really developed a low form factor switching solution in the form of a chassis switch. I think that could open up a massive opportunity for Meraki in terms of being seen as more of an enterprise solution.

As far as our own scaling we have seen their numbers grow in terms of selling their solutions whereas we've seen other lines of business that decline. So, I'd say that we've definitely seen exponential growth in sales of Meraki as a solution. More and more customers whom I talk to get to the point of serious consideration and go through the finer processes of discovering what Meraki is all about. People who choose it seem to like it so much that they stick to it. I think the only time I've really seen a compelling reason for not going with Meraki is that the security with regards to firewalls is still Meraki solutions. They really don't quite compete with Cisco and their ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) technology.

In any case, we do continue to have plans to scale our usage of this solution for us and our customers.

I have not been in contact with Meraki support directly. I do know that there are lots of different ways to actually reach out to support people. Meraki now sells different levels of supports so that you can choose a level that will fit your needs. Obviously, as partners, I've got all the contact details. There is also the Make a Wish feature within the portal that we can use to ask for a special request. They seem to be switched on in terms of what they do and how they do it. All the technicians seem young and very knowledgeable in terms of their areas of expertise.

The installation is straightforward. There are some simple rules of a sort that you have to use. And, of course, Meraki does make it easy. If the opportunity that an end-user is working on is large enough, then there may be a reason to look into training courses that Meraki offers. They offer these in order to help customers in terms of adopting, managing, and expanding their use of the technology. 

A lot of configuration can be done on the cloud before actually having the switches go live. When the switches go live and the license has been activated, then you actually push the configurations on to the switches. From that point of view, I think it is just a great mentality that Meraki has got now around using the portal.

Of course, as partners, we do our own implementations. Our clients often need assistance from our side or from integrators for the deployments. A lot of the time our position with clients is more advisory. The customers know what they know. What they don't know and understand is what they haven't seen before. Some customers like to just dive in and try and work it out for themselves. I've seen clients on the other end of the spectrum where they need help in terms of redoing IP addressing schemes. What they need is some assistance with regards to making sure that it is all configured correctly and doing testing as they are doing the migration from one type of switch to another type of switch. The depth of our involvement all depends on the customer's skills. But even being trained as a Cisco CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be able to get straight to doing a Meraki installation.

As a reseller, evaluating options is somewhat built into the business structure. I deal with Meraki, Aruba, and Cisco around enterprise networking, security, voice, and wireless.

My experience with Meraki goes back to the MS-1 series. That's when I first took the original Meraki training course and got the CMNA (Certified Meraki Networking Associate) certification. We got to play on the newest series of switches around at that time. Those have already gone past their lifecycle. We participate in ongoing training now and continue to get a look at the latest versions of the Meraki switches and get to know early on what is happening in terms of new development. The product is now becoming more of a hybrid with Cisco and other vendor products rather than just purely focusing on Meraki as a stand-alone solution.

If I have any advice for people considering the product, it is to jump on board and don't look back. If you're after a platform that is completely cloud compatible, a solution that will allow you to manage it from anywhere you need to be, then it's definitely a step in the right direction going forward. Meraki seems to cover most things. It takes away the need for CLI (Command-line Interface) which is obviously an aging technology that people were using a decade ago. Now it is a web-based interface and it is available on many different devices. You can now take management anywhere you go. How you push it out affects what you can do with it. Visibility and control are fantastic from Meraki.

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Meraki switches as an eight out of ten. How good it serves a purpose depends on the use case. For different use cases and different scenarios, I'd give it a different rating. For example, if it is deployed for a data center, then I would rate Meraki very low because the product is not designed to be a data center switch. If I'm using it for total visibility in terms of applications and controls and what is happening on a network, then I rate it very high. For that, I'd give it as much as a 10. Its rating is all about the use case.

Our primary use case of this solution is for connecting desktops to LAN.

I like the feature that allows us to copy conditions from one port to another.

I would like to see some automation and better integration with the editing tool.

The solution has been very stable so far.

For our current state, the solution has good scalability. We have around 400 users in our company. We use five people for maintenance. We don't have immediate plans to increase our usage, but perhaps after four or five years. 

The technical support is a good four out of five. Sometimes it takes some time for them to respond. Perhaps because of a backlog. But they always deal with the issues. 

The initial setup was straightforward and the entire process took maybe four or five hours. We did it ourselves.

We pay an annual subscription fee.

My advice to others would be to try the solution. Most of the features are cloud-based so it's easy to manage it from anywhere - even from your mobile. I rate the solution an eight out of ten. There are still some developments that need to be done. It's not perfect. But from a personal perspective, I can say that they are a good eight. Additional features that I would like to see included in the next release of this solution, is if they could create different teams for different standards, some API integration solutions, and other different applications. It could be easier to use and easier to implement. Perhaps they can also add automation.

We primarily use the solution for testing.

The solution is very user-friendly.

The solution could be simplified a bit.

For our purposes, the solution is stable.

The solution isn't scalable. 

I've had to contact technical support a few times and they have always been helpful. How long they take to respond depends on the time of the call. If I'm calling at off-office hours I can get answers quickly, but during actual office hours, there is a little bit of a delay.

We previously used HPE. We switched because we received a gift voucher after attending an IT Expo.

The initial setup is straightforward. You only need two people for deployment and maintenance.

I handled the implementation myself.

The pricing of the solution is fair. The licensing is paid on a yearly basis.

We use the MS 250 and 425 series.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. Switches wise, I'm really happy with the product. It is more user-friendly than competitors and I can do everything myself. That's why I prefer it.