Higher throughput router hardware

[olavrb]

1gb WAN is not that uncommon anymore, at least not here in Norway.

Security gateway GX20 has a firewall througput performance of just 250mbps, according to specifications. That makes it an absolute no go at our office where we have 500mbps fiber, or even at home in my apartment where I have 1000mbps.

Please make hardware capable of utilizing at least gigabit WAN to LAN.

[franco2444]

Current hardware is likely based on Meraki SMB/Enterprise Z1 Teleworker appliance. I'd suspect within the next few years they will, but as of now, there is no real need since they're still getting their feet wet for SoHo / Entry level SMB.

For you're office, you're better off getting actual Meraki Hardware, such an MX67

[Harry_91]

I agree. There needs to be the option. We now have residential ISPs offering 1GB internet connections, and this is now becoming for the norm for home users (FTTP). I’d hope that I could keep within the Meraki Go Ecosystem, without the need to go elsewhere for the Security Gateway due to the limitations.

Best

Harry.

[Jpstellar]

I just sold to client and then they upgraded to 600mb. Now I look like i made an error. Many isps are offering very reasonable speed upgrades to SMALL BUSINESS which is the market of meraki go.  Has to be done if this product will succeed. If a hardware upgrade is required there needs to be a upgrade price.

[mbaker33]

This....  This right here is the biggest annoyance of many with this product line.

I finally initiated a return on the Meraki Go gateway this morning because of this issue.  I pay for 450 Mbps internet, and with this device, I was only getting 250 Mbps.  Most of the time, it wasn't an issue.  However, when my kids are both home playing Xbox and watching Netflix at the same time, and my wife and I are wrapping up work and watching a show together, it just isn't enough for all of us to do what we want to do seamlessly.  The fact that I was being held hostage by my gateway was a huge concern, I just hoped it wouldn't become an issue.  Unfortunately, it did.

Also, it seems that the Meraki Go line in general is sort of DOA.  Support takes 3-4 days to get back to you and it is email only (read: pretty much useless).  The lack of any real customizations just makes this product far too basic than even your $100 Linksys device you would buy at Walmart and the interface is difficult to navigate to boot.

I am a huge fan of Cisco and Meraki products and was hoping for far more than what this product offers.  It just seems like a solution that was thrown together at a bar on the back of a napkin and was abandoned after launch.  I will be working with my Cisco Rep to figure out an affordable way to get some actual Meraki units for my setup and shipping all of my Meraki Go products back eventually.  In the end, it just isn't worth the amount of frustration it has caused me and my family in just a few short months.

[franco2444]

250mbps is the minimum. I reach 300 with mine no problem, which is what I pay for. From your issues it seems more of a networking issue than it is throughput. You can test this by replacing the Meraki Gateway with another and see if that impacts anything.

If you need specific enterprise features, yes Meraki Go isn't intended for that purpose, though it's possible they'll continue to add features (which they do) at a later date.

[mbaker33]

With my Meraki Go unit, I would max at roughly 270.  After swapping back to the ISP provided firewall, I've reached a max of 580, which is more than I pay for.

I am a network engineer, I've been doing this for 20 years.  I'm not a newbie that just went and bought some stuff on Amazon.  I don't *need* enterprise features for the most part, but I expected a lot more from this product than what it is currently delivering.  Have you seen the Merak Dashboard?  The Meraki Go App, isn't even a shell of what the Meraki Dashboard offers.  I get it, totally different audiences, but I expected a similar interface, not a janky app that is incredibly difficult to navigate with settings and features that are hidden in areas that make no sense.

I looked back at this community and found that the product was released a only month or two before my initial purchase, so the product is obviously still young.  Honestly, this is a classic Cisco move that I've seen far too many times.  Release a new product that is half baked, spend the next two years improving it and making it hum like a well-oiled machine.  I expect that the Meraki Go product will be far better in a year, however, I'm looking for better now.  I'll give it another look in a year or two when I am looking for a WiFi 6 upgrade and we'll go from there.

[Price-Networks]

I mean. This product is only $120 bucks. This isn't an enterprise product. If you need a product with higher throughput. The Meraki MX68CW (450 mbps) and Meraki MX75 (1Gbps) would be better options.   

[delfuego]

This gear is designed for Small Business. Most our Small Biz customers have 300mb+ connections. We simply will not install one of these to create a bottleneck. It is simply too slow to deploy in 2021/2022.

[TyShawn]

I believe there is some confusion on the ask of having the choice of a beefier edge device. For many customer having something that would do 150-200Mbps will do, but it would be great to have the option within the MGO line to have something that could do 400-1000Mbps even at a higher price point. As we all know in the coming few years ISPs will be pushing 200-500 Mbps as a standard tier and being limited to what we have now is starting to show more and more each passing month.

As a good example in my home (for the most part) the current router would fit my needs based on its feature set, but based on its routing capabilities it becomes a nonstarter. Now I am sure people would recommend the MX75 or some other mid-tier device as an option, but that leap in price is far to high for what the needs is. This viewpoint doesn't make me right or wrong, but is an honest viewpoint Meraki should be aware of. It is also a viewpoint that would allow for company X, y, and Z to gain business verses Cisco Meraki benefiting from. 

[ShaileshPatel]

We find that small business connections are 1GB, so having the GX20 supporting 1G throughput would be great.

[JamesMW]

@olavrb @mbaker33 @ShaileshPatel @TyShawn @delfuego @Harry_91 @franco2444 @Jpstellar @Price-Networks

- be on the lookout for updates next month 👀 

[TyShawn]

I will be looking :)....

[JamesMW]

@olavrb @mbaker33 @ShaileshPatel @TyShawn @delfuego @Harry_91 @franco2444 @Jpstellar @Price-Networks @RCD3 

Introducing the brand new GX50 - Firewall Router Plus, available June 28th, 2022! Partner resources are linked below. More announcements coming soon!

https://community.meraki.com/t5/Meraki-Go-Partner-Resources/bg-p/go-partner-resources#Meraki%20Go%20...

[JamesMW]

@Roska @Indigo @RoBB1 @stevec101 @Camfj141 @PrimeAesthetic @EdwardWilson @UARiT @speakerfritz @SMyhre 

Introducing the brand new GX50 - Firewall Router Plus, available June 28th, 2022! Partner resources are linked below. More announcements coming soon!

https://community.meraki.com/t5/Meraki-Go-Partner-Resources/bg-p/go-partner-resources#Meraki%20Go%20...

[EdwardWilson]

I can't access the link, it's restricted to partners 

[JamesMW]

@EdwardWilson - Documents and product details will be available publicly at launch.

[TyShawn]

I am having access issues as well.

[JamesMW]

@TyShawn - Documents and product details will be available publicly at launch.

[JamesMW]

@MilesB 

[delfuego]

@JamesMWThanks James. Appreciate the heads up!

[TyShawn]

We are in next month I am still looking :).

[RCD3]

Cisco Live is next week, I would imagine something large will be announced then. 

[delfuego]

Thanks @JamesMW

I was able to get logged and look through the PDF's. The hyperlinks within the PDF don't seem to work (okta issue?).

Is the VPN for "Windows Built-In" or AnyConnect?

Is dual internet / Fail-over supported?

Will warranty extensions be offer for US customers and partners?

[RCD3]

Can you share any info on the throughput of the gateway? 

[delfuego]

The PDF is marked "Partner Confidential", so I think I should wait for @JamesMW or someone internal to share.

I will say it a big improvement, but will likely not make everyone happy, but what's new 🙂

[RCD3]

That is fair. Thanks anyways.

[JamesMW]

@delfuego - agreed this is a big improvement and we're excited for launch! That being said, the teams are already working on "new" features that will be added to the GX50 shortly after launch 😉

[JamesMW]

@RCD3 - throughput is over 500 Mbps. Documents and product details will be available publicly at launch.

[RCD3]

Hey James, 

Thanks for letting us know that. I won't pry, but you mentioned throughput is "over" 500 Mbps, which I assume means that isn't the cap. Hoping for 1 Gbps as a cap, but I will wait for the official launch.

Thanks,

[ShaileshPatel]

Hope the throughput is 1 Gbps  

[delfuego]

Lets all temper our expectations to what we want, need and are willing to pay for. The new Meraki MX75 has 1000mb/750mb throughput and cost $2k USD + $1k-$1.5k per/year for support. These are still entry-level business firewalls.

[EdwardWilson]

Not a partner so can't login 😩

[JamesMW]

@delfuego 

Dual WAN is not supported. Details on VPN capabilities will be shared at launch along with some "coming soon" info... 

At this time only our standard one-year hardware warranty is included. The ability to purchase extended warranty coverage is not available but submitting that as a wish would be my suggestion.

[RoBB1]

Can the Meraki Go Team give us any details? The specs?

[UARiT]

Nothing should be produced with less than the GB NIC limit for WAN.  There is NO excuse, not since maybe 2010...

Firewall throughput is great but people who do not need a firewall for a specific protocol or connection are not going to buy a router limited to 500Mbps WAN.uplink.  Nothing on the market cripples the WAN uplink to less than 1Gbps out of the box.  It makes us uncompetitive and is frankly suspicious and looks like an unethical marketing strategy to upsell.  

Reality is that all traffic for CC and almost all other secure communications are already encrypted end-to-end and a Firewall for a consumer router or even small business or whatever don't need firewall. They need bandwidth. 

[TyShawn]

@UARiT ,

In fairness to M-Go there are a lot of devices on the market that do not allow for 1G throughput once UTM functions are enabled. I think your point is saying you want a basic firewall that is just doing NATTing so you can achieve 1G throughput is valid. But knowing how Meraki proper does their devices I was not shocked to see the GX50 be limited to 500Mbps. 

[DroneShotFPV]

Has there been any revelation as to what "500+ Mbp/s" actually means in terms of real hard numbers? Has nyone purchased one and done speed tests to see what this theoretical number actually is?  I get a generalization is good to give broad ideas of expectations, but I need hard numbers, not a "you could get over this.... potentially"... I subscribe to 1Gbps symmetrical fiber at my house, and have the same at work. 

My work is all based on helping the community, for free, so paying $2k + for an MX75, or better yet getting an MX100 is far, FAR out of my budget capabilities as it stands. I do run complete Meraki hardware with MX100, MS225-24P AND 48p, with MR46's, MR72's, MR20's and now MR28's covering a near 60+ acre landscape of buildings (a private school for kids with special needs) , so I am well aware of things of that nature with the high end Meraki hardware, but I can afford it there, not at a secondary community support outreach program... so yes, hard numbers would be amazing to more customers than just myself.. I have been searching to get this true number with ZERO results for days... I am about to go get a Linksys or Netgear NightHawk and just throw DD-WRT on it like the old days and run pfsense at this point because I am so frustrated with trying to get a single answer.

Thank you in advance if anyone can assist!

[delfuego]

Sorry for the slow reply. I have heard users getting +700mbs, but I have yet to play with one, so 2nd hand info 😞

If throughput speed is your only, or #1 concern maybe this is not the right device for you. I would look at what your actual needs are. I live rural, work remote as a network admin and just upgraded from 10mb DSL to 40mb synchronous P2P and am pleased as punch! If loosing 200mb on a Gb fiber connection makes you sad, don't do it. If you need Gb throughput w/ IDS and all the bells and whistles you will pay for it, "there is no free lunch". I look at the Meraki Go stuff for simple, almost plug and play SMB or maybe residential (no kids/no content filtering). Those are the only places I have deployed it.

I am anxiously awaiting some upgrades too and hope to be able assist Meraki Go in improving over time. Meraki Go has promise, but is not perfect. But neither is anything else (me included).

[TyShawn]

I do recall an early adopter posting numbers on the forums somewhere, and they were at the 500~ Mpbs rate. Just as a follow up question what are the network needs of this location? I would hate for you to buy this solution and then be update because it doesn't do some you're used to have on your Meraki solution.