Free Meraki AP

jlfirehawk

Senior member
Jan 10, 2005
417
1
81
Not sure if anyone is aware of this but as long as you attend a webinar registered using a company email domain and not a freebie email address that you get a free Meraki MR12 access point with the service free for three years. I just got mine via UPS and its awesome for a sitting through a one hour webinar.
Click here for the registration page.

I have used Cisco gear for years as well as a whole slew of the home/small business type access points and I will say that the features these things have are awesome, for the whole set of bandwidth policies and built in firewall rules etc.

It only took me a little over a week to get my access point, I am curious to see if others have the same outcome.
 

gus6464

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2005
1,848
32
91
Not sure if anyone is aware of this but as long as you attend a webinar registered using a company email domain and not a freebie email address that you get a free Meraki MR12 access point with the service free for three years. I just got mine via UPS and its awesome for a sitting through a one hour webinar.
Click here for the registration page.

I have used Cisco gear for years as well as a whole slew of the home/small business type access points and I will say that the features these things have are awesome, for the whole set of bandwidth policies and built in firewall rules etc.

It only took me a little over a week to get my access point, I am curious to see if others have the same outcome.

How do they verify? I wonder if I can get 2 with registering myself and my wife for one. She also has a corporate email address and is a database manager.
 

jlfirehawk

Senior member
Jan 10, 2005
417
1
81
According to the details only one AP per domain/address etc. They verify it just by having someone from the team call you.
From the page:

While Cisco Meraki webinars are open to all audiences and while APs may be offered at live events, to be eligible for a free AP, participants must:

Attend the live event or the live webinar in its entirety
Enter a valid company name
Be an IT professional
Register with a shipping address in the US, CA, UK or the rest of the EEA, Croatia, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, or Puerto Rico. We cannot ship free APs outside of these regions and cannot ship to post office boxes.
European countries require a valid VAT ID for shipment.
Register with their organization's email address
Confirm eligibility and shipping address with a Cisco Meraki representative by phone
 

gus6464

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2005
1,848
32
91
According to the details only one AP per domain/address etc. They verify it just by having someone from the team call you.
From the page:

While Cisco Meraki webinars are open to all audiences and while APs may be offered at live events, to be eligible for a free AP, participants must:

Attend the live event or the live webinar in its entirety
Enter a valid company name
Be an IT professional
Register with a shipping address in the US, CA, UK or the rest of the EEA, Croatia, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, or Puerto Rico. We cannot ship free APs outside of these regions and cannot ship to post office boxes.
European countries require a valid VAT ID for shipment.
Register with their organization's email address
Confirm eligibility and shipping address with a Cisco Meraki representative by phone

Ahh ok well she pretty qualifies on all accounts. I can just have it sent to my in-laws.

When they called you to verify, what did they ask you?
 

jlfirehawk

Senior member
Jan 10, 2005
417
1
81
Just some basic sales questions, I think the point of the free unit is to further sales of the higher end units to small businesses. The guy who contacted me was really cool about it all and shipped the unit right out after I sat through the webinar which actually wasn't bad at all. I know 4 other people I work with that got one as well and none of them had an issue.
 

RadiclDreamer

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2004
8,622
40
91
Ive sat through 2 of these and never got my AP, even spoke to an account manager about it and still no dice. Its great if you have got yours, but I wanted to check them out for some niche projects I do where I work
 

gus6464

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2005
1,848
32
91
I signed up for one for next week and I had a Meraki rep call me today to confirm. Although I am kind of interested in the webinar as we have a couple Juniper EX switches we want to replace at the data centers and the hands-off approach of their cloud stuff would be beneficial. Their new stuff looks Cisco built which is a good thing so hopefully their software is good.
 

jlfirehawk

Senior member
Jan 10, 2005
417
1
81
My understanding is these work off a subscription model so after 3 years you either pay or it stops working unfortunately. My intent was to pass the info on, I feel bad for anyone who didn't get there's since everyone I know that signed up got theirs.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
2
81
So what happens at 3 years? The unit just turns off?

It is cloud managed from their servers and needs a subscription for the devices to keep working. They used to have free subscriptions with cut down features, but I think Cisco got rid of that when they acquired Meraki. Existing accounts were grandfathered in. I help manage a few such networks.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,967
19
81
Take a CNMA class get an AP, a Switch and a Firewall.

Also the sales/engineering is independent so you can double dip.

I haven't as I don't want to be a wireless guy.

I did take a Cisco bootcamp and was gifted a C819.
 

gus6464

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2005
1,848
32
91
Take a CNMA class get an AP, a Switch and a Firewall.

Also the sales/engineering is independent so you can double dip.

I haven't as I don't want to be a wireless guy.

I did take a Cisco bootcamp and was gifted a C819.

CNMA?
 

gus6464

Golden Member
Nov 10, 2005
1,848
32
91
Correct, I typoed or it autocorrected.

There are some good freebies now for partners in the Wireless arena. I took a one week free bootcamp for UC and received a C819.

Of course, these are all NFR for those looking to flip them for a quick buck.

How do you like the switches? We are looking for replacements for 4 Juniper EX switches and the MS42 fits the bill. Plus we manage everything remotely as our servers are in colo's.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,967
19
81
How do you like the switches? We are looking for replacements for 4 Juniper EX switches and the MS42 fits the bill. Plus we manage everything remotely as our servers are in colo's.

I haven't been able to take that course, but many have been happy with Meraki.

The way it works out is you buy Meraki if you want could and you buy Cisco if you don't.

There is still a lot of engineers/architects mixing and matching which is usually not a best practice.

I am mostly a CCNP R&S guy, I only have a CCNA in Wireless.
 

CubanlB

Senior member
Oct 24, 2003
562
0
76
Thanks for the heads-up on this. Took the intro webinar last week and just received my AP, which was promptly disassembled.