Eyewatering Aerohive Renewal

[DavR]

We have an Aerohive system at our school, 26 APs and cloud based control through HiveManager NG. A few niggles over the years, but overall it's been a good system. We bought our first three years hosting up front, at a cost of £2300. That was two and a half years ago, so I'm just planning our renewal options and frankly it's staggering.

 

I've been quoted £2800 for one year's hosting, or £5700 for three - either way, about three times what we paid last time Apparently Aerohive have re-weighted their pricing for cheaper APs, but more expensive subscriptions. Gee, thanks guys.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Are other suppliers doing the same? I'm half tempted to look at a replacement system, even if it has only been three years, as that is taking the mickey. Kinda kicking myself for not getting an on-premises controller, but at the time the five year forecast still seemed pretty reasonable.

 

Software / Hardware As A Service - turns out it's still a con....

Edited January 16, 2019 by DavR

[Linfit]

Ridiculous. You could buy 26 replacement Ubiquiti AP's for that first year cost and then have no ongoing future costs.

You just need a computer to run the Ubiquiti software on and you are good to go.

[atcoates]

Always good to see something that's more expensive than my Meraki kit. If it was Meraki APs for £2800 I could licence all 26 APs for 10 years. Ubuiquiti costs are hard to argue with though.

[simpsonj]

We warned in March last year that the licencing cost was due to increase dramatically in April. We were offered a three year deal at a reduced rate, so we went ahead, but I strongly suspect we'll be looking to move in two years time!

[DavR]

We warned in March last year that the licencing cost was due to increase dramatically in April. We were offered a three year deal at a reduced rate, so we went ahead, but I strongly suspect we'll be looking to move in two years time!

 

Yeah, ditto. I suspect we'll probably have to swallow it this time, but will move when it's time for hardware renewal.

 

It is tempting to tell them to go hang now, but spending £10k on a new system to avoid the £5k renewal maybe isn't brightest.

 

What sort of price are the Meraki APs these days @atcoates, do you know?

 

Can't argue with the Ubiquiti prices, but I'm wary of being on my own when it comes to Wifi. We've had a few issues just recently, and our vendor has been invaluable in resolving them, can't fault them in that respect.

[foofighterjim]

Similar issue here but with 52 old 121 APs, over £5,500 for a one year renewal and nearly £12,000 for 3 years.

 

As much as I like the system and how it works I simply can't justify the price. My main agenda for BETT this year is to get up to speed with the latest offerings from all the major providers.

[elsiegee40]

Stand C361 if opinions need to be shared at BETT

[jonbd]

We had the same thing with Aerohive a couple of months ago, so jumped ship to Unifi ASAP to avoid the crazy renewal costs. Been very happy with it so far, and was nice and easy to set up and install. A lot cheaper for me to add extra APs to areas that we want to extend coverage to as well!

[DavR]

Similar issue here but with 52 old 121 APs, over £5,500 for a one year renewal and nearly £12,000 for 3 years.

 

As much as I like the system and how it works I simply can't justify the price. My main agenda for BETT this year is to get up to speed with the latest offerings from all the major providers.

 

This is the thing - when I was first demo'd the Aerohive solution, I dismissed it as something that was massively featureful, but surely way above our needs (and price bracket) as a primary school. I was pleasantly surprised when it came out cheapest, but it's come back to bite us in the bum now :/

 

All very well selling cheap APs and backloading the cost onto the annual subscription, but we bought the APs when they were expensive, now we're paying the subs when they expensive!

[atcoates]

What sort of price are the Meraki APs these days @atcoates, do you know?.

 

Will send a PM.

[TLARWise]

We also got in with a three year renewal just before the price hike. A short while ago there was a similar thread (http://www.edugeek.net/forums/wireless-networks/202454-wireless-replacement-conundrum.html) in which they mention a cheaper option called Aerohive Connect which may be worth looking in to. They also used to offer an Aerohive VM solution that could be setup on site although I don't know if this option is still available.

[DavR]

I'll have a read @HilcrRWise, thanks. At a glance Aerohive Connect could be a way out for us, as we're really not using much in the way of higher features.

[AlanD]

I have used Aerohive for many years, and no I don’t pay for cloud or on site controller costs, because as you say they are eye wateringly large. Maybe no worse than meraki, or some other premium systems, but not cheaper or better either.

 

I simple use the command line interface to program said and vlan information, but it’s not easy, or simple or for the feint hearted. No, I don’t get all those nice graphs, pie charts and alerts...but it just works, and I have better things to do than note that social media use by teachers has increased by another 10%

 

I’m sure for businesses with multiple sites and just a few access points at each site, it’s massively convenient and possibly a good investment for thei managed system. But I struggle to see how that pricing structure could be justified for schools, especiallt those with large numbers of APs.

 

Ubiquity, and some other systems, work just fine and are enterprise quality...in fact they have the same chipsets and underlying software ....with only the management controlling software being unique. I tested units from several manufacturers and put them under stress loading conditions..and only with a stop watch could I measure in benefit using the premium brands, and even then, they werent always faster. In the end I decided to stay with my command line Aerohive units. To be fair I thought the Meraki interface was by far the best, so much so That I mention it. But ubiquities managent interface had all the features too..and was free.

 

Don’t take my word for it..or anyone else’s. Get a couple ubiquity APs. Install the management software on a PC. Don’t expect to get any holding hand support from the vendor...ask on this site if you get stuck...because they are a popular choice. I like the HD nano units. Test them out. I’d put put a bet on, that you don’t licence your Aerohive units and throw them away.

 

As a last ditch attempt you could go back to the vendor and say what you intend doing and they might give you a better price.

.but you need to be genuinely ready to dump them and already have a replacement test AP up and running.

[midweek]

£5.5k ex VAT for our 1 year renewal on our old AP121 & AP330's.

 

I've got a test nanoHD and have used Ubiquiti before so I am pretty sure we'll be taking that route. We can update our WiFi and do away with licensing for the foreseeable future for about 18 months worth of Aerohive licensing. Crazy.

[Wave9_Lee]

Yeah, ditto. I suspect we'll probably have to swallow it this time, but will move when it's time for hardware renewal.

 

It is tempting to tell them to go hang now, but spending £10k on a new system to avoid the £5k renewal maybe isn't brightest.

 

What sort of price are the Meraki APs these days @atcoates, do you know?

 

Can't argue with the Ubiquiti prices, but I'm wary of being on my own when it comes to Wifi. We've had a few issues just recently, and our vendor has been invaluable in resolving them, can't fault them in that respect.

 

Hi Dave,

 

taking into account the 10 year licence, plus we can spread the hardware cost, Meraki Pricing is pretty good (in my view). If you'd like some pricing, I'd be happy to oblige,

 

cheers

[DavR]

Hi Dave,

 

taking into account the 10 year licence, plus we can spread the hardware cost, Meraki Pricing is pretty good (in my view). If you'd like some pricing, I'd be happy to oblige,

 

cheers

 

Meraki is tempting, if we were starting from scratch it would definitely be a runner. The 10 year license, essentially paying upfront for the whole lifetime of the APs, is quite appealing - avoiding renewal pains like this one!

 

It's looking like we might just have to suck it up this time, but we'll likely just get a new system at next renewal.

[Net-Ctrl]

For anyone heading to BETT and wanting to learn more about Ruckus, we will have demos of the managemet consoles and APs on-hand with some of our support team - we will be on stand C61.

 

For anyone not going to BETT that has questions about Ruckus - please feel free to send me a PM.

[MS2011]

I have used Aerohive for many years, and no I don’t pay for cloud or on site controller costs, because as you say they are eye wateringly large. Maybe no worse than meraki, or some other premium systems, but not cheaper or better either.

 

I simple use the command line interface to program said and vlan information, but it’s not easy, or simple or for the feint hearted. No, I don’t get all those nice graphs, pie charts and alerts...but it just works, and I have better things to do than note that social media use by teachers has increased by another 10%

 

I’m sure for businesses with multiple sites and just a few access points at each site, it’s massively convenient and possibly a good investment for thei managed system. But I struggle to see how that pricing structure could be justified for schools, especiallt those with large numbers of APs.

 

Ubiquity, and some other systems, work just fine and are enterprise quality...in fact they have the same chipsets and underlying software ....with only the management controlling software being unique. I tested units from several manufacturers and put them under stress loading conditions..and only with a stop watch could I measure in benefit using the premium brands, and even then, they werent always faster. In the end I decided to stay with my command line Aerohive units. To be fair I thought the Meraki interface was by far the best, so much so That I mention it. But ubiquities managent interface had all the features too..and was free.

 

Don’t take my word for it..or anyone else’s. Get a couple ubiquity APs. Install the management software on a PC. Don’t expect to get any holding hand support from the vendor...ask on this site if you get stuck...because they are a popular choice. I like the HD nano units. Test them out. I’d put put a bet on, that you don’t licence your Aerohive units and throw them away.

 

As a last ditch attempt you could go back to the vendor and say what you intend doing and they might give you a better price.

.but you need to be genuinely ready to dump them and already have a replacement test AP up and running.

 

Hi

 

How did you configured aerohive ap’s without hive manager?

 

Thanks