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Meraki Free AP - What's the catch?

dry

By dry
in Wireless Networks

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dry

dry

Posted
Posted (edited)

We've been looking at replacing our wireless network anyway, but I've just received an email from Meraki about getting a free AP sent out if I sit in on a webinar- including a 3 year cloud management license, so I signed up for the webinar.

 

An eager beaver from Cisco has just called me and confirmed the free AP, which is good seeing as one reseller has been suggesting Meraki to us for a while, so would like to actually test it out and see the management interface.

 

So what's the catch? Anyone claimed this free AP before? Have I agreed to a lifetime of Cisco marketing now? It's quite unlikely we'll be buying any more than the APs- judging by the prices of their Meraki switches!

Edited by dry
Boredguy

Boredguy

Posted
Posted

We got a free MR18 and 3 year licence last June for attending a webinar and used it to test their system.

 

Its now sat on top of our comms cabinet in it's box doing nothing as we decided to purchase Ruckus instead.

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Meldrew

Meldrew

Posted
Posted

Yeah, no catch. The management interface is fantastic, but we decided the APs were just too expensive and went with Unfi instead. The management side is no where near as good, but enough.

 

We still have one running as the main wifi in an off site unit we run for construction.

 

Meldrew.

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dry

dry

Posted
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Posted (edited)

Good to hear, thanks guys. It's between Unifi and Meraki at the moment- a bit put off by the license fee for Meraki and like how Unifi pricing is good even if you're buying just one AP- makes expansion in the future a bit easier.

 

Did you lot go through a reseller for your wireless or do it diy? Our reseller is marking up Unifi by a stupid amount!

Edited by dry
kearton

kearton

Posted
Posted
Did you lot go through a reseller for your wireless or do it diy? Our reseller is marking up Unifi by a stupid amount!

Reseller here. It was a complete package, with extremely comprehensive site survey before and after, cabling, 99 Meraki APs with 7 years of licensing. (we're a big site)

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FN-GM

FN-GM

Posted
Posted
Can you not get all your teaching staff to do the webinar. You will then get a shed load of AP's and a free managed wireless network! :D
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kearton

kearton

Posted
Posted
Can you not get all your teaching staff to do the webinar. You will then get a shed load of AP's and a free managed wireless network! :D

Only 1 free AP per school :(

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kearton

kearton

Posted
Posted
I did this a couple of years ago and do get semi regular emails inviting me to other webinars.

Yep, I got one today (first for a while). But it ends with "If you do not wish to receive further email communications from Meraki, please click here to unsubscribe", so it's not like you have to sell your soul.

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Sylv3r

Sylv3r

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Posted

No catch. I've had a free AP and a free 8 port switch from them for two different webinars.

 

We've decided to buy both switches and AP's for the whole school - so the marketing ploy has ultimately worked well.

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mortstar

mortstar

Posted
Posted
We got a free MR18 and 3 year licence last June for attending a webinar and used it to test their system.

 

Its now sat on top of our comms cabinet in it's box doing nothing as we decided to purchase Ruckus instead.

 

Do you need the AP taking off your hands?

 

Got a free AP from Meraki for 'attending' a webinar about a year ago and use it for guest networking in our office but now people have found the network we've got loads of people checking their faceache profiles. Could really do with another if it's going spare ;)

Meldrew

Meldrew

Posted
Posted
Did you lot go through a reseller for your wireless or do it diy? Our reseller is marking up Unifi by a stupid amount!

 

We used LinITX as the supplier of the Unifi kit. They are (if I understand correctly) the UK distributor importer of the kit. We DIY installed our 40 odd APs ourselves. If you go for the UniFi Std APs (2.4Ghz only) then they run only passive POE, however you can get a converter gadget for £4 each to convert normal POE to passive just before each AP.

 

Meldrew

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jmak

jmak

Posted
Posted
We used LinITX as the supplier of the Unifi kit. They are (if I understand correctly) the UK distributor importer of the kit. We DIY installed our 40 odd APs ourselves. If you go for the UniFi Std APs (2.4Ghz only) then they run only passive POE, however you can get a converter gadget for £4 each to convert normal POE to passive just before each AP.

 

Meldrew

 

Can you link to the POE convertors please? I have just used the injectors they came with hidden in trunking as the power supplies, but my switch has POE and this sounds like it might be a better solution. I still get cleaners turning off the power to the injectors and then get complaints of no wireless....

Chris_

Chris_

Posted
Posted
Can you link to the POE convertors please? I have just used the injectors they came with hidden in trunking as the power supplies, but my switch has POE and this sounds like it might be a better solution. I still get cleaners turning off the power to the injectors and then get complaints of no wireless....

 

Here are the adaptors that convert 802.3af POE to passive POE. Not sure where Meldrew got them for £4. Ubiquiti PoE Converter 802.3af 48V to 18V - Indoor | LinITX.com | Wireless and Networking

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Wave9_Andy

Wave9_Andy

Posted
Posted

Morning

 

Wave 9 are a Cisco Meraki MSP and I can confirm there is no catch! Meraki will want to contact you directly and discuss what your plans are so you can expect that. The Free AP is for "IT professionals" so your role has to be IT related or you have to be the person responsible for IT in school. Its a genuinely good offer as you can test out the system and features of the dashboard which are superb.

 

Beyond that, if you were looking to roll out across a school then most would benefit from a proper site survey as you can have too many as well as too few AP's to make a WLAN work optimally. It would also consider, number of concurrent devices and model throughput etc.

 

If anyone needs any help with Meraki or would like to know more then please PM me. There also more on our page (Including a Free AP Link) here Wi-Fi for Education | Wave 9 | Cisco Meraki

 

Cheers

 

Andy

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robjduk

robjduk

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I thought the AP's were cloud controlled so were useless without signing up for the paid deal? If I am wrong then I will get on the next webinar!
DPrince

DPrince

Posted
Posted
I thought the AP's were cloud controlled so were useless without signing up for the paid deal? If I am wrong then I will get on the next webinar!

 

There isn't a "paid deal" as such. Each AP has to be licensed in order to manage it.

The free AP comes with a free three year licence (or at least, ours did about 2 years ago).

kai91

kai91

Posted
Posted

does anyone know how we could go about claming a free AP from them to have a play with? Would be very interested to see how the system compares to our current unifi one.

Thanks

kearton

kearton

Posted
Posted
does anyone know how we could go about claming a free AP from them to have a play with? Would be very interested to see how the system compares to our current unifi one.

Thanks

 

Attend one of their webinars

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SJA

SJA

Posted
Posted
I received one of these free AP's with a three year license. It was disabled after one year and has been gathering dust ever since. A reminder of what can happen when someone else controls access to and management of your equipment.

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