Meraki Mesh APs

November 9, 2009

So I’m sitting here on the porch of our cabin in Leaky (pronounced lakey) Texas. This place is beautiful:fall leaves, quiet, Frio river. With all this beauty, the first thing I naturally do is to boot up my laptop and see if I can get wireless 😉

Off the porch

Indeed I can. The AP is a Meraki. These guys are new to me, but from first encounter they seem like pretty much dump mesh clients. My cabin has this nailed to the outside:

They love signs…sans a sign they use sharpie…hehe

If you browse to your default gateway once connected you get the Meraki web interface. This has almost no functionality. There is an interface to set the IP, which you have to login to get to. They use username of admin with a password of the serial number that is on the back of the AP. Soooo, I logged in with the serial number and it affords you no real additional functionality…just change the IP.

It does have a client test and the ability to view other mesh nodes…but not much else.

Client Speed Test

Mesh Neighbors

It appears as if the services are customizable, as they do browser hijacking:

Hijack at top of page

It looks like you do option config through Meraki’s centralized servers. They want you to login to dashboard.blah.blah. I’m assuming this is where you name your APs and configure hijack settings…hehe.

Also, for my adoring fans, this is me, sitting out here in the woods, writing this post.

The blinding beauty that is Greg…or possibly the glare off of my head.

Comments

9 responses to “Meraki Mesh APs”

November 9, 2009

omegatron

Seen a couple of those before, they came to Australia and anyone who knew a bit to little about their ADSL agreement thought they’d be a great idea to try an resell their home connections.

The 2 main issues here were:
1. No home user holds a telco licence that authorises them to sell any sort of internet connection
2. If the home user ends up making more money per $time than their connection costs then they need to have a wireless carrier licence as well.

Don’t know what the licencing requirements are over there but I wouldn’t think it’d be legal for just anyone to throw one up. :-/

See the discussion we had here: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/841212.html

Oh and.. “shine your skull for a copper govener?”
November 9, 2009

Greg

Interesting. You have an awful lot of knowledge for a 21 year old Aussie kid…hmmmm. 😉

These guys were just using them for cheap wireless distribution and less for generating revenue, so I assume this is a kosher deployment method.

I’ve actually had someone ask me if I shine my head, and to that I say “I’m just naturally bright”…man I’m punny.
November 9, 2009

omegatron

Ahaha kid eh? Over here we start drinking at 18 so I’m practically an old man now. Its ok, I still act like one on weekends 🙂

Sounds like they’d be pretty eash to mesh for a plug and play installation.

Personally I’ve been using Ruckus wireless gear for any sort of mesh deployments we’ve rolled out recently, simply cos mikrotik deployments take way to much config and Cisco deployments take way too much config and are much more expensive 🙂

A good pun is its own reword and all punsters deserve to be drawn and quoted.
November 9, 2009

Rob

Dude! The bowl of cheerios is what’s causing the hair loss. 😉 Not sure what’s more sad though…..that they have wireless at a secluded cabin or that you brought your laptop expecting it. :-/
November 9, 2009

Greg

I am in awe of your punishment…;)

As far as ease of use, I still want to try a few of the openmesh guys…I’ve not tried the Ruckus stuff. How does is stack up price wise?
November 9, 2009

Greg

Rob :Dude! The bowl of cheerios is what’s causing the hair loss. Not sure what’s more sad though…..that they have wireless at a secluded cabin or that you brought your laptop expecting it. :-/

That was oatmeal…makes a better # 2.

I was mostly wondering what kind of gear they were running for wireless….I can’t help myself. Everytime I see a mast or water tower…or even a tall building, I have to see what kind of antennas they have up…hehe
November 11, 2009

omegatron

Pricing on the ruckus gear is:

$2000 for Zone director 1000
$900 for each ZoneFlex 2741 Outdoor AP
$400 for each Zoneflex 2942 Indoor AP

Coverage and mesh capabilities are well worth it thou imho.

All pricing in AUD
November 11, 2009

omegatron

In fact as with most gear.. if it does what you need it to do and is reliable.. then pricing is really the last point of consideration unless you don’t intend on making any money from the site.. (which is probably means you shouldn’t be doing the job in the first place XD)
November 11, 2009

Greg

omegatron :Pricing on the ruckus gear is:

$2000 for Zone director 1000
$900 for each ZoneFlex 2741 Outdoor AP
$400 for each Zoneflex 2942 Indoor AP

Coverage and mesh capabilities are well worth it thou imho.

All pricing in AUD

Looks like the director is about $1800 USD, so most of the prices are close. We’re about 7% lower.

I know a guy pricing the Ruckus stuff now that you mentioned it…hehe.

omegatron :In fact as with most gear.. if it does what you need it to do and is reliable.. then pricing is really the last point of consideration unless you don’t intend on making any money from the site.. (which is probably means you shouldn’t be doing the job in the first place XD)

I agree with you…for the most part. I always design it the way it should be…do I always have the $ to make that happen…….no. 😉 Such is life, right?

Meraki Mesh APs

Comments

9 responses to “Meraki Mesh APs”

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