Wireless Access Point recommendations?

Posted by R4LRetro@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 23 comments

Hello, I'm pretty much a newb in the WiFi world. I've set up mesh networks and WAPs before but now I'm looking for something more enterprise level. That's where my experience seems to waver. We've demoed Juniper, an AP30 to be exact, with mixed results. The management interface was kind of messy and boot up time is incredibly slow (like 5 minutes to fully connect online and be verified before SSID broadcast). The overall coverage was not as great as we had hoped either. tl;dr recommend your top picks for WAPs.

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23 Comments

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daniieldevid@reddit

I am Absolutely thrilled with the [EtherWan EW75000-13 wireless access point](https://esaitech.com/products/etherwan-ew75000-13-hardened-40-c-75-c-managed-ip67-single-band-802-11ac-wireless-bridge-with-5ghz-19dbi-internal-panel-antenna-powered-by-802-3af-at-poe) from Esaitech! This high-performance solution has transformed my connectivity, providing seamless and reliable wireless access. Esaitech truly delivers excellence in networking technology.

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thomasmitschke@reddit

Ubiquity

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BWMerlin@reddit

OP is asking for enterprise level.

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thomasmitschke@reddit

I‘ve seen installations with 200 APs and more. You can also choose Cisco or Aruba, but mostly the features are not needed. And the price is 5-10times higher with these brands

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BWMerlin@reddit

For myself it would be Aruba for switches and wireless.

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_thebills@reddit

Had Xirrus at my old place and I wanted to paint the walls red. We then went for Aruba which was miles better but my god the management interface is not simple at all.

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jws1300@reddit

Moving to meraki currently from Cisco and I have no bad things to say. A bit pricey, but no controllers to upgrade and the visibility in the web interface is already pretty nice. I like it so far.

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gotmynamefromcaptcha@reddit

We’re all Meraki here for wireless and have a good chunk of our Cisco switches upgraded to Meraki as well. It’s definitely a pay to play type of deal, but I’ll tell you what. We’ve rarely ever had to call them and the equipment is solid albeit pricey.

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cbiggers@reddit

We're a Meraki shop, and blah blah licensing brick blah blah, but any goobers running their gear without warranty/maintenance in place doesn't get to argue. It works very well for us, and we are rolling out the new Cisco CW9162I WiFi 6E units. Aruba is also a very solid enterprise line, especially if you integrate ClearPass.

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Jeeper08JK@reddit

Curious, why is boot time on the list? and GUIs suck, give me command line any day.

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R4LRetro@reddit (OP)

Just a personal preference.

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wallacehacks@reddit

On an enterprise budget, I don't hate Meraki. My instincts keep telling me to recommend the more affordable options but that is a weakness of mine when pitching solutions for proper enterprise sized clients.

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R4LRetro@reddit (OP)

Does this change if a wireless survey is performed or do you just like Meraki for the management and features? Being a Cisco product, does it require some form of licensing through Cisco? We have Cisco products, but their licensing model is so convoluted.

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bofh2023@reddit

It's Meraki, that's both it's upside and it's downside: when there's a problem, you just call Cisco's NOC, and they'll fix it or RMA it. That said, when there's a problem, you really don't have a whole lot else in your troubleshooting toolbox other than "call Cisco." And yes you will be paying Cisco on a yearly basis, they require active subscriptions.

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R4LRetro@reddit (OP)

Yuck. Thanks for the info.

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r1chard_r4hl@reddit

I will echo the sentiment of ... rarely need to touch them, but if you do need to... better get used to calling someone. Their dash tends to show surface level things and sometimes lacks more in depth info.

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R4LRetro@reddit (OP)

Surprising considering its Cisco. I don't know if I like that or not. I like to see how things work underneath and definitely do not want to have to contact support for everything.

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r1chard_r4hl@reddit

If it's any consolation, everyone I've had to deal with has been knowledgeable and solved my issue, however, I agree with you on the fact of "I like to see how things work."

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uptimefordays@reddit

That applies to most enterprise hardware/software though.

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wallacehacks@reddit

The Meraki deployments that I have managed have worked very well. Like so well I barely have to touch them. It's very easy to identify clients on the network, so easy I don't need to use my network skills at all really. This is great since most places I've worked have not had a very deep bench of network techs. I also worked for an enterprise level company that deployed Arubas and they worked very well. Good luck with your choice!

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Wireless Access Point recommendations?

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23 Comments

daniieldevid@reddit

thomasmitschke@reddit

BWMerlin@reddit

thomasmitschke@reddit

BWMerlin@reddit

_thebills@reddit

jws1300@reddit

gotmynamefromcaptcha@reddit

cbiggers@reddit

Jeeper08JK@reddit

R4LRetro@reddit (OP)

wallacehacks@reddit

R4LRetro@reddit (OP)

bofh2023@reddit

R4LRetro@reddit (OP)

r1chard_r4hl@reddit

R4LRetro@reddit (OP)

r1chard_r4hl@reddit

uptimefordays@reddit

wallacehacks@reddit

MatthiasVD123@reddit

crysalis010@reddit

jack_hudson2001@reddit