Free Meraki AP with 3 year cloud license

Iristheangel

I got a crappy Meraki Z1. My friend got a MR16 and Zoo got a MR12. Looks like they're just giving a variety of them out.

it_consultant

I have a client who is going to buy a Meraki MX90 firewall. I am looking forward to setting that up for them.

darkerz

This will sound shallow but...

I like the way they look.

Very sexy everything.

Zoovash

There is no Cisco logo on it. I'm guessing they are leftover devices before Cisco bought them and are now used as a way to promote the new Cisco-Meraki products.
Just my two cents.

jmasterj206

I got a Z1 as well.

veritas_libertas

We are moving to Meraki, so I'm all for getting one to play with...

exampasser

Thanks. I simply used my student email address, attended the webinar and gave them a call and they are sending me one

BTW, how do they ship them (UPS ground, FedEx, etc.?)

BGraves

We use these on all of our main and remote sites and it really makes things a snap! Can't say enough good things about them! Their iOS app is pretty nice too! I haven't used their firewalls or switches yet, anyone have any good/bad things to say about them?

ccnxjr

There's a lot to be said about being able to access these devices from anywhere and they've certainly done a lot to idiot proof them.
However I'm not ready to place my confidence in a device that is capable of doing packet captures of the inside of my network through the cloud.
Just my personal view.

If I was responsible for managing thousands of devices, and was allowed to do so from a lounge chair in Hawaii , my view would be different.
There's always that balance between security and convenience that varies from environment to environment.

phonic

We're a Meraki partner and I'm the main Meraki guy at our company, so I thought I'd chime in.

When we first thought about signing up, I took the Meraki webinar and got the free MR-12. I work at an MSP, so it seemed to be a good fit. We became a partner shortly thereafter and I went for their training program (Certified Meraki Network Associate = CMNA). It was a free 1-day/8-hour training session where they had a number of instructors do technical training on their switch, firewall and wireless products. Upon completion, you get a free MR-24, MS-22 and MX-60, which is like $4000 MSRP in hardware. Unfortunately, I see that since Cisco bought them, the CMNA hardware offering isn't as good and there are more restrictions for who can go (whereas before, any partner could). In our class it was 50+% Cisco employees trying to get familiar with the new products.

Over the past 9 months or so, we've sold and implemented many Meraki wireless systems. Anywhere from 1 to 14 APs. From a management perspective, it's a walk in the park. I can configure a typical system in about 10 minutes and even a more complex one in <30. Ongoing monitoring and support is very nice. The hardware is OK. We've had a ton of problems with their outdoor models, but the indoor ones seem reliable. The feature set is awesome, but the range/power/etc. is about mid-range for this class of hardware. One issue I have is that they are a bit too dumbed down. What I mean by this is that they take away a lot of fine tune control to make them simpler to use/install. This is a good and bad thing. The ongoing costs are high, but the upfront cost is a bit less.

FYI - The MR12 is crap. Even Meraki says so. The MR16 is much better (and more expensive). The MR24 is even better but almost double the MSRP of the MR16.

Sales/support wise is a mixed bag. I've had some good experiences and some bad ones.

Overall, I like Meraki. Time will tell how the Cisco merger affects them.

But yeah, get the free AP if you can. I have an MR24 and MR12 in my house (one on each floor), and it's very nice.

exampasser

BTW, can you configure basic AP settings locally such as setting the WPA key, SSID, etc.?

phonic

When you mean locally, are you asking about directly on the AP without it having Internet access? If so, no.

Outside of LAN information (ie: static IP, VLAN, etc. - basically what it needs to get online), everything else has to be done through the cloud controller. While you can set what they do in the event of an Internet failure (to allow them to still function to provide LAN access to clients), any configuration on the wireless side needs to be done through Meraki's dashboard. Without a license and connectivity to the controller, they are 100% useless.

exampasser

That's what I meant, thanks for the answer. That's a shame, I guess that's an incentive for people to keep paying for a new license.

phonic

Yeah, they built their model around people paying for licenses perpetually. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's something to keep in mind.

One useful feature the APs do offer is when you are associated to them, you can go to Meraki. From there, anyone can run various tests, including a speedtest directly to the AP. I've found that quite useful during troubleshooting. It helps to identify a WLAN versus LAN/WAN connectivity problem.

RouteMyPacket

Iristheangel wrote: »

Just got an email telling me that my Meraki Z1 has been shipped. I was hoping for at least an MR12 but that's fine. I'm going to give it to a client to use anyways

Interesting, they shipped me an MR12

daceto

They sent me an MR12 as well.

exampasser

Been about a week, no shipping notification email yet.

JustFred

Can't wait for mine. Thanks for sharing Iris

JustFred

This thread seems dead, but i was curious whether you guys are enjoying your Merakis?

j23evan

I really enjoy mine, and they delivered it quick.

lsud00d

Haven't had a chance to play with it yet but here's a Meraki next to a standard Cisco AP:

http://i.imgur.com/6vtaGt5.jpg

cyberguypr

Question, I got my MR12 the other day but didn't see a license included. Is it somehow tied to the device's serial #?

DevilWAH

lsud00d wrote: »

Haven't had a chance to play with it yet but here's a Meraki next to a standard Cisco AP:

http://i.imgur.com/6vtaGt5.jpg

the smiley face is what sells it for me

NightShade1

Dont really like Meraki but its true that smalley face is really cool hahah

MSP-IT

Anyone else's APs cutting in and out? I had a period of about 3 and a half days of the AP being down, with no reports from Meraki. I only noticed when I tried to log in and failed to get to the splash screen. Rebooting the AP fixed the issue, but it worries me if I'm going to use this in a commercial environment.

Iristheangel

@MSP-IT - I haven't had any issues with Meraki yet. My sites were running without issue between Dec 1st through 4th. I have about 40 sites connected that all have Meraki APs and I haven't had any network outages that weren't related to network LAN issues as of yet.

MSP-IT

I wonder what kind of service checking they do for connectivity of the AP to the Internet. I was able to log into the management site and it was reporting that the AP was functional. I guess I should've done a little more digging before I rebooted the router and figured out the cause of the issue.

RouteMyPacket

I never received mine

veritas_libertas

I'm suppose to get mine in the next 7 days. We'll see...

Edit: Got mine and promptly put in on eBay since I have new AC wireless router. What can I say, seeing what it was going for on eBay was just to much for me.

qsub

Can someone provide me with the URL to register the 3 year license?

I lost my documentation. I have the order number though.

THanks,