Unifi sell Cloud based controller
-
So we had a leasing announcement from Ubiquiti, and now we have a cloud controller offering much like Meraki.
https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Updates-Blog/UniFi-Elite-Cloud-Service-Announcement/ba-p/1834566
I don't see this going very far. $20/month for the controller, plus a yearly fee per device, starting at $50/yr for an AP.
The per device fee does include full RMA warranty on the covered devices, this this price is pretty high considering you can host your own Self Hosted server for $5 and pay nothing for devices, and keeping a few replacement devices on the shelf will quickly make the RMA service not worthwhile.
-
@Dashrender but how does that price compare to Meraki?
-
@JaredBusch said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
@Dashrender but how does that price compare to Meraki?
Half or less.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
@JaredBusch said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
@Dashrender but how does that price compare to Meraki?
Half or less.
Then it is a very viable price point. Getting some advanced RMA and all built in is a solid option to managing spare devices for many.
-
Sure the price is much better than Meraki, but still many times that then paying JB to manage and maintain this for them. That's what I was saying.
I wonder how JB charges clients for the time he maintains the unifi controller since it covers many clients, not just one.
The RMA might have value in very small environments, but you get to 4 AP and the cost to just buy a single extra AP pays for itself. The switches and USG make a bit more sense...But I think it's an all or nothing situation... My 18 APs 5 switches and ultimate USG would definitely make that cost pretty spendy
-
$50/yr for a device that costs between $80-125 is very expensive for hardware coverage percentage wise.
-
@Dashrender said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
$50/yr for a device that costs between $80-125 is very expensive for hardware coverage percentage wise.
But it's very similar to the ratio on Meraki but much lower absolute numbers. Financially it's clearly far better than Meraki.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
@Dashrender said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
$50/yr for a device that costs between $80-125 is very expensive for hardware coverage percentage wise.
But it's very similar to the ratio on Meraki but much lower absolute numbers. Financially it's clearly far better than Meraki.
Absolutely agree there.
-
@Dashrender said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
I wonder how JB charges clients for the time he maintains the unifi controller since it covers many clients, not just one.
Generally a quarter hour when I update firmware.
-
It's not cheap compared to running your own, but for a small company that just wants this done for them, it's not bad.
-
Tags, please.
-
Do you want to trade your time or your money? You can save one of them but not both.
If time, do it yourself.
If money, let them do it.
-
@Reid-Cooper said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
Tags, please.
What's with the tag thing on here lately?
-
@JaredBusch said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
@Dashrender said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
I wonder how JB charges clients for the time he maintains the unifi controller since it covers many clients, not just one.
Generally a quarter hour when I update firmware.
Aww... I suppose I can see that. Especially with the problems you've had where you had to manually reset them
-
@Breffni-Potter said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
Do you want to trade your time or your money? You can save one of them but not both.
If time, do it yourself.
If money, let them do it.
Or both and let JB do it. and maintain spare parts on the shelf. ITSPs/MSPs like NTG and JB's company will be able to crush this price.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm sure they will have customers who will find this offering and they will be glad to pay it because they are unaware that places like JB's are out there and can and will do it for a lot less.
The biggest killer for me is the cost of service for the AP vs the cost of the APs. $50/yr to add an AC-Lite which only costs $80. My current older UAPs are nearly 2 years old with no issues. I'm fully expecting to get another 4+ years out of them. It's definitely much less expensive to keep one spare AP on site for the entire time in case of a failure. My first year's savings would be $120.
Even the USG support really doesn't make much sense. The top end USG is $400, the support is $100/yr.
-
@Dashrender said in Unifi sell Cloud based controller:
I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm sure they will have customers who will find this offering and they will be glad to pay it because they are unaware that places like JB's are out there and can and will do it for a lot less.
SMBs love to pay loads for "vendor support" and guarantees.
-
@Dashrender said
Or both and let JB do it. and maintain spare parts on the shelf. ITSPs/MSPs like ADVERT and ADVERT company will be able to crush this price.
Yes but is that the point?
@Dashrender said
The biggest killer for me is the cost of service for the AP vs the cost of the APs. $50/yr to add an AC-Lite which only costs $80.
Yeah but you could argue that about any warranty agreement.
There is a market, there is a demand, they have made a service to do it. They are not pulling a Nisco and force people to buy into these warranty agreements.
-
@Breffni-Potter exactly. There is a clear market for this, why is there any question why they provide a product where there is demand?
