Ubiquiti Wireless offers a wide range of WLAN products. We tested their devices before ultimately choosing Cisco Meraki. Ubiquiti devices have good outdoor performance and the connection is very stable. The internal roaming is also good.
The best advantage, in my opinion, was the ease of management. The central control panel enables you to manage the entire wireless network, view and control the settings easily. Another feature we liked was the automatic firmware update. Ubiquiti is also more cost-effective than other alternatives.
We noticed issues, though, with their layer 3 devices and routing equipment. Ubiquiti is a low-cost alternative but the tradeoff is the almost non-existent support. We had to rely on the community forums for answers. Additionally, there is a good chance a percentage of the Ubiquiti devices will break, so, have extra devices on standby.
We chose Cisco Meraki because of their great wireless coverage, as is to be expected with Cisco products. Also, they offer the latest generation of WiFi technology.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN controllers are “set and go.” Once you set it up to your preferred configuration, it just runs by itself. It is very reliable. Adding access points is very easy from the wireless controller - you can even group APs. The monitoring is very good, too. You have visibility and control over the wireless network - for instance, you can block or disconnect users.
Regarding security, you can integrate the controller with most SSO vendors if you want an extra layer, but the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN controller provides robust layer 2 security with authentication controls.
The only downside we find is the licensing model. You may need several licenses and the cost can add up.
Conclusions
If you can afford it, go with Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN. Ubiquiti provides a good affordable alternative if you don’t mind the lack of support.
Hello community,
I work at a small tech services company and am currently researching firewalls.
What are the differences between Cisco Meraki MX67 and FortiGate 60? Which solution do you prefer?
Thank you for your help.
Hi,
I work as a Network and Telecommunications Manager at a retail company.
I'm looking for a product replacement and I'm currently exploring Mist AI and Cloud or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN.
Which one would you recommend choosing and why?
Thanks in advance.
Senior Network Admin at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Jun 2, 2022
Had so many problems with Meraki in the past 5 years. I wouldn't recommend them to anybody. The last problem was intermittent problems connecting to an SSID, the helpdesk answer was: "make the password less complex". It was passw0rd.
Roaming always seems to break whenever they do an update. One time it took more than a year to fix the issues, couldn't upgrade the firmware for more than a year. Every time I reported a problem, they wanted to upgrade our firmware, but they hadn't fixed the roaming problem.
Wifi works so much better now when we moved away from Meraki. Plus, we don't have to pay the license fee anymore.
Wireless WANs have become a staple of enterprise networking because they connect everyone, everywhere. They help a business rapidly expand while making critical applications and services available anywhere, whereas, traditional WANs usually consist of wired lines connecting fixed locations.
Uwe S., the owner of a small consultancy who uses Aruba Networks Wireless WAN, discusses the variety o...
Ubiquiti Wireless offers a wide range of WLAN products. We tested their devices before ultimately choosing Cisco Meraki. Ubiquiti devices have good outdoor performance and the connection is very stable. The internal roaming is also good.
The best advantage, in my opinion, was the ease of management. The central control panel enables you to manage the entire wireless network, view and control the settings easily. Another feature we liked was the automatic firmware update. Ubiquiti is also more cost-effective than other alternatives.
We noticed issues, though, with their layer 3 devices and routing equipment. Ubiquiti is a low-cost alternative but the tradeoff is the almost non-existent support. We had to rely on the community forums for answers. Additionally, there is a good chance a percentage of the Ubiquiti devices will break, so, have extra devices on standby.
We chose Cisco Meraki because of their great wireless coverage, as is to be expected with Cisco products. Also, they offer the latest generation of WiFi technology.
Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN controllers are “set and go.” Once you set it up to your preferred configuration, it just runs by itself. It is very reliable. Adding access points is very easy from the wireless controller - you can even group APs. The monitoring is very good, too. You have visibility and control over the wireless network - for instance, you can block or disconnect users.
Regarding security, you can integrate the controller with most SSO vendors if you want an extra layer, but the Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN controller provides robust layer 2 security with authentication controls.
The only downside we find is the licensing model. You may need several licenses and the cost can add up.
Conclusions
If you can afford it, go with Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN. Ubiquiti provides a good affordable alternative if you don’t mind the lack of support.