Any Meraki wireless experts out there?
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Yes. Meraki is very nice but the cost is just absurd.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Although even here I've never seen them through a VAR.
This is the problem. For a small SME it is very difficult to buy hardware that isn't from a VAR because you need someone to install the kit. I've done it plenty of times, partly because I'm a control freak and partly to save money, but it's not easy - you get the hardware from X and get the install from Y. If you're not careful, it can result in everyone being unsatisfied. It's great when it works out and a nightmare when it goes wrong.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Although even here I've never seen them through a VAR.
This is the problem. For a small SME it is very difficult to buy hardware that isn't from a VAR because you need someone to install the kit. I've done it plenty of times, partly because I'm a control freak and partly to save money, but it's not easy - you get the hardware from X and get the install from Y. If you're not careful, it can result in everyone being unsatisfied. It's great when it works out and a nightmare when it goes wrong.
Why do you need an installation for APs? What work are you wanting the VAR to do for you?
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Attaching them to the ceiling, cabling etc etc. I can handle most things software, but stay clear of hardware.
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NTG does installs of Ubiquiti because we recommend it often. But get the products through a third party. It's super simple to install. I do my own install at home.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Attaching them to the ceiling, cabling etc etc. I can handle most things software, but stay clear of hardware.
Oh. Why not just have any electrician or handyman do that? Those aren't services a VAR would necessarily do as they aren't really related to the product.
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I have a builder and an electrician,, but neither will lay Cat5 cables. Especially 1oo feet in the air along steel girders. And they wouldn't know exactly where the best place to install them is, and neither do I. And they'd charge almost as much as the VAR anyway. I don't see the point just to save a few hundred dollars. It's false economy.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I have a builder and an electrician,, but neither will lay Cat5 cables. Especially 1oo feet in the air along steel girders. And they wouldn't know exactly where the best place to install them is, and neither do I. And they'd charge almost as much as the VAR anyway. I don't see the point just to save a few hundred dollars. It's false economy.
Your electrician won't do basic electrical work? Why do you use him? In the US you'd be in a legal mess using a VAR instead of an electrician for building electrical wiring.
What makes you feel that a VAR will be a better electrician than your electrician?
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It must be different over there. Here as a VAR it is illegal to do that portion of the work unless the VAR owned a certified electrician and then the VAR is just an umbrella for selling electrical contracting.
In the US a Meraki or Ubiquiti VAR would not do wiring and cabling (they might subcontract an electrician like we do) but the VA portion would be in configuring the software for you.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Your electrician won't do basic electrical work? Why do you use him? In the US you'd be in a legal mess using a VAR instead of an electrician for building electrical wiring.
What makes you feel that a VAR will be a better electrician than your electrician?
Low voltage does not require an electrician in almost every state, that is a completely different classification. In fact there are entirely separate unions for it and even separate divisions of IBEW for it. I know because at one point in my career I was a member of the IBEW Signal Class and was forced off a job by a fellow IBEW member....... Yeah go go modern unions...
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We looked into providing that service and in NY we'd have to license all throughout the state, not just at the state level
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@scottalanmiller said:
We looked into providing that service and in NY we'd have to license all throughout the state, not just at the state level
Yeah different states get to make up their own rules, so this does not surprise me. Working in the St. Louis metro area all my life has drove home how messed up many regulations are because of varying state legislation. Things work one way in Missouri and another in Illinois.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Your electrician won't do basic electrical work? Why do you use him? In the US you'd be in a legal mess using a VAR instead of an electrician for building electrical wiring.
Why do you assume my VAR isn't qualified to do the work or doesn't have subcontractors to do any parts they aren't qualified to do? I don't call mounting APs and installing patch cables and panels in server room racks etc etc 'basic electrical work', but I'll ask him if he does much of that kind of work. I didn't know that all electricians were familiar with ethernet cables, but I'd never really thought about it before.
But honestly, I only wanted some advice on specifying a Meraki system. Instead I'm being told to sack my electrician.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Your electrician won't do basic electrical work? Why do you use him? In the US you'd be in a legal mess using a VAR instead of an electrician for building electrical wiring.
Why do you assume my VAR isn't qualified to do the work or doesn't have subcontractors to do any parts they aren't qualified to do? I don't call mounting APs and installing patch cables and panels in server room racks etc etc 'basic electrical work', but I'll ask him if he does much of that kind of work. I didn't know that all electricians were familiar with ethernet cables, but I'd never really thought about it before.
But honestly, I only wanted some advice on specifying a Meraki system. Instead I'm being told to sack my electrician.
Just shocked that you'd keep an electrician that refuses to do work and that results in you having to rely on a VAR to provide electrician services. Don't you see how weird that sounds?
Sure, your VAR might do things outside of the strict scope of a VAR, that's fine. But you are relying on that - it's an odd thing to do. You've created a dependency chain of needing someone who is not specificity an electrician to act as your electrician while being filtered by being a reseller of a certain product.
Very limiting and convoluted. And it's so weird and convoluted that it is making you seriously consider spending 10x the budget to get around the artificial limitations.
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I appreciate that you may like your electrician and you may like having certain VARs. But you must also see how this is impacting your IT decision making - your providers and products are being governed by who provides electrician services bundled with a technical supply chain task.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Don't you see how weird that sounds?
I'm weird for buying Netgear or Meraki products.
I'm weird for getting an IT company to quote for the supply and fit of the whole solution.
I'm weird for not getting our electrician (who I don't even know) to do the work instead.Fine. I'm weird. Whatever.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Don't you see how weird that sounds?
I'm weird for buying Netgear or Meraki products.
I'm weird for getting an IT company to quote for the supply and fit of the whole solution.
I'm weird for not getting our electrician (who I don't even know) to do the work instead.Fine. I'm weird. Whatever.
It's not weird to have an IT company do electrical work, it's only weird to have that as a requirement. Imagine how limiting it would be if you required any job role to do an unrelated job role to determine your solution.
Think about cars. What if you only bought cars from a shop that also builds garages. You could look at that as a "complete solution" but one is automotive field and one is building construction. Nothing wrong with combining them under one roof, no pun intended, but it is very limiting and you'll be stuck buying a cat model from a much smaller range of choices than normal. The chance of getting the best car for you or even the best garage will be low.
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So the real question is only which Meraki models to buy?
The MR12 has a bad reputation for reliability. That's the one often given away for free.
The MR18 is the general sweet spot. Super fast and solid.
If you need 802.11ac then the MR34 is the only choice.
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One good thing is that while the AP units get more expensive, the support cost does not. So the overall price doesn't go up by the percentage that it may seem. All models are $450 for five years.
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Are you looking at any outdoor units?
