Network Analyst/Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Oct 27, 2022
Once it's on, it's fast at providing results, but it does take a while to power up and get established. Make sure you learn how to put notes onto each AutoTest you do so that you can decipher what's what when they're in the uploaded portal. And also keep an eye on the battery as soon as you get it, and if it starts failing, contact their support. I feel that the battery on mine, and on others in the workplace, was substandard. I give it a four out of 10. If it weren't for the battery, it would probably get an eight out of 10. But because of the battery, it's infuriating and it's not reliable.
I would rate this solution eight out of ten. It's not a ten because of the scalability piece. If I wanted to step it up with other interface levels, the scalability would be limited. I would like to see the addition of a couple of simple tests and a traffic generator feature.
It is an excellent device to take the guesswork out of the trouble you are working on. I rate this tool as a 10.
NetAlly is always improving the technology in their equipment and tech support is very willing to help you with issues you may have with their products.
Network analyst at a university with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Jun 29, 2022
It is very beneficial. We had a trial of it, and what sold us on it was just being able to use it in person. Before trying it, we didn't really know if we needed it. We had it for about two weeks, and then when we gave it back, we realized how much it improved our workflow and simplified installation and troubleshooting. We don't use LinkRunner for documenting ad hoc additions, moves, and changes of wired ethernet connections. I know that you can plug it into all your ports and you can go back and view it online, but we've never used it for that. We don't use the Cloud service. When we first got them, we had turned on the emails, but it sent too many emails, and we turned it off. We haven't used it since. I would rate it a seven out of ten. A few annoyances stop it from being a great product, but it is definitely extremely handy.
My advice would be to be aware of AllyCare. There are no firmware updates unless you have that contract. I can't say that I absolutely love it, but I find a feature here and there that is growing on me. It works pretty well to do one thing. I haven't really done much else with it. I did an iPerf test or a bandwidth test, and it did work quite well. It works for troubleshooting. It does work well with the apps that are on the Android platform, but there are bugs and quirks to it. The automatic uploading of test results to the Link-Live cloud service saves us some time but not on LinkRunner 10G. I've got Air Link that does it automatically anytime the device is connected, but for LinkRunner 10G, I believe you have to have a NetAlly or an AllyCare contract, which we do not have. I would rate it a six out of ten.
It is quite easy to use. It can do much more than what most people think. So, I would suggest having more information, not only about the product itself but also about what you want to achieve with this product. Once you combine your own knowledge and your experience with your or your customer's infrastructure, it will make the work easier. It provides fast results, but it also depends on the kind of test you are running. It is quite fast for a generic auto test, such as a ping test and pulse scan, but certain tests, such as network discovery, require lots of computing power and resources. When you do the polling of the SNMP-enabled devices, it might take a bit longer, but there is no other tool in the world that can do similar things. So, I'm quite okay with the speed. I would rate it a ten out of ten. I'm very satisfied with it. It is handy, easy to use, and very comprehensive. It has helped me in standardizing my team's workflow. It is now a part of our troubleshooting workflow. Without it, we will still be doing things in the traditional ways where we need two people onsite: one person doing the test, and the other person just doing the recording.
Network & Infrastructure Analyst with 201-500 employees
Real User
Jun 21, 2022
I rate LinkRunner a seven out of ten. It has good value for the price. The battery is disappointing, so I can't rank it higher. Before buying LinkRunner, I recommend thinking about how long you need to go without being able to charge it. You will be disappointed if you're in the field for eight hours daily, expecting this product to be on six or seven of those hours. It's not going to last. If you want to use WIFI at all, choose a different model. Don't try to install a WIFI card in this one. You also need to read the manual. They're not all the same. So even if you own multiple LinkRunner products, they're not very identical, and you should learn the differences between them.
Senior Network Architect at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
May 11, 2022
I rate LinkRunner ten out of ten. Even though it has some room for improvement, it's still the most feature-rich solution out of all the ones I've used.
Overall, the full functionality of this tool is phenomenal. This is a tool that I would buy on my own, provided I could afford it. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Network Administrator at a university with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Mar 7, 2022
I expect the LAN BERT function will take some time to learn because I haven't used that yet. I need to read a little bit more about it, and I need to pair it with another device. In terms of maintenance, it doesn't require any, as far as I know. I haven't used those advanced features yet, but from everything I've seen, it's a 10 out of 10. I haven't come across anything that's been disappointing. It has been able to do the things that I've tried to do with it.
We use it as much as possible. It's brought out to validate any type of cabling. It's a great tool. NetAlly is a great company, from my local rep to tech support.
LinkRunner AT 3000 & 4000. Next Generation Copper and Fiber Ethernet AutoTester. Fast and comprehensive validation of network links and powerful copper and fiber network connectivity troubleshooting. Tests from 10Mbps to 10Gbps, PoE, VLAN, switch port, path analysis, packet capture, topology mapping and so much more!
I would rate this product a nine out of ten.
Once it's on, it's fast at providing results, but it does take a while to power up and get established. Make sure you learn how to put notes onto each AutoTest you do so that you can decipher what's what when they're in the uploaded portal. And also keep an eye on the battery as soon as you get it, and if it starts failing, contact their support. I feel that the battery on mine, and on others in the workplace, was substandard. I give it a four out of 10. If it weren't for the battery, it would probably get an eight out of 10. But because of the battery, it's infuriating and it's not reliable.
I would rate this solution eight out of ten. It's not a ten because of the scalability piece. If I wanted to step it up with other interface levels, the scalability would be limited. I would like to see the addition of a couple of simple tests and a traffic generator feature.
It is an excellent device to take the guesswork out of the trouble you are working on. I rate this tool as a 10.
NetAlly is always improving the technology in their equipment and tech support is very willing to help you with issues you may have with their products.
Very helpful device and should be part of every engineer's or tech's toolkit.
It is very beneficial. We had a trial of it, and what sold us on it was just being able to use it in person. Before trying it, we didn't really know if we needed it. We had it for about two weeks, and then when we gave it back, we realized how much it improved our workflow and simplified installation and troubleshooting. We don't use LinkRunner for documenting ad hoc additions, moves, and changes of wired ethernet connections. I know that you can plug it into all your ports and you can go back and view it online, but we've never used it for that. We don't use the Cloud service. When we first got them, we had turned on the emails, but it sent too many emails, and we turned it off. We haven't used it since. I would rate it a seven out of ten. A few annoyances stop it from being a great product, but it is definitely extremely handy.
My advice would be to be aware of AllyCare. There are no firmware updates unless you have that contract. I can't say that I absolutely love it, but I find a feature here and there that is growing on me. It works pretty well to do one thing. I haven't really done much else with it. I did an iPerf test or a bandwidth test, and it did work quite well. It works for troubleshooting. It does work well with the apps that are on the Android platform, but there are bugs and quirks to it. The automatic uploading of test results to the Link-Live cloud service saves us some time but not on LinkRunner 10G. I've got Air Link that does it automatically anytime the device is connected, but for LinkRunner 10G, I believe you have to have a NetAlly or an AllyCare contract, which we do not have. I would rate it a six out of ten.
It is quite easy to use. It can do much more than what most people think. So, I would suggest having more information, not only about the product itself but also about what you want to achieve with this product. Once you combine your own knowledge and your experience with your or your customer's infrastructure, it will make the work easier. It provides fast results, but it also depends on the kind of test you are running. It is quite fast for a generic auto test, such as a ping test and pulse scan, but certain tests, such as network discovery, require lots of computing power and resources. When you do the polling of the SNMP-enabled devices, it might take a bit longer, but there is no other tool in the world that can do similar things. So, I'm quite okay with the speed. I would rate it a ten out of ten. I'm very satisfied with it. It is handy, easy to use, and very comprehensive. It has helped me in standardizing my team's workflow. It is now a part of our troubleshooting workflow. Without it, we will still be doing things in the traditional ways where we need two people onsite: one person doing the test, and the other person just doing the recording.
I rate LinkRunner a seven out of ten. It has good value for the price. The battery is disappointing, so I can't rank it higher. Before buying LinkRunner, I recommend thinking about how long you need to go without being able to charge it. You will be disappointed if you're in the field for eight hours daily, expecting this product to be on six or seven of those hours. It's not going to last. If you want to use WIFI at all, choose a different model. Don't try to install a WIFI card in this one. You also need to read the manual. They're not all the same. So even if you own multiple LinkRunner products, they're not very identical, and you should learn the differences between them.
I rate LinkRunner ten out of ten. Even though it has some room for improvement, it's still the most feature-rich solution out of all the ones I've used.
Overall, the full functionality of this tool is phenomenal. This is a tool that I would buy on my own, provided I could afford it. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
I expect the LAN BERT function will take some time to learn because I haven't used that yet. I need to read a little bit more about it, and I need to pair it with another device. In terms of maintenance, it doesn't require any, as far as I know. I haven't used those advanced features yet, but from everything I've seen, it's a 10 out of 10. I haven't come across anything that's been disappointing. It has been able to do the things that I've tried to do with it.
We use it as much as possible. It's brought out to validate any type of cabling. It's a great tool. NetAlly is a great company, from my local rep to tech support.