Ekahau Site Survey Reviews

I use this solution for off-site surveys. We are resellers of this solution and I'm a solutions architect working in pre-sales. Our company is based in South Africa.

I like that it's easy to plot the APs and generate reports. It's a good design. The reports Ekahau provides are very professional. The product is mature and provides ease of use regarding large-scale planning and reporting. It's a mature solution. 

I'd like to see the option of an in-app photo application or a way to upload photos while carrying out an active onsite survey. You can obviously use a tablet's camera but it would be helpful to have an automated import of the physical AP in the Ekahau reports. Also, they come out with a lot of updates and it sometimes feels too much. Finally, I'd like to see a function or plugin for Ekahau to pick up on the switches the APs connect to so that you can map out further than just the APs when you do your site survey. It would be great if it could pick up a Mac address of each AP's switches, which would help engineers map out a network topology.

I've been using this solution for four years. 

We're happy with the stability.  

When we started out with the solution, the only support available was via email. It was efficient but sometimes it's preferable to speak to someone. I haven't used the support in a while, but it has improved despite the fact that it's a bit too rigid for my liking. 

I've used AirMagnet once or twice and found it to be cumbersome. Part of it may be that I'm more experienced with Ekahau. This kind of work previously required the manual effort of taking floor plans to sites, along with physical APs to test the coverage and plot out our WiFi design.

The initial setup was straightforward. We had a technical session with Ruckus in South Africa after we'd been using the solution for a year. It was more of a workshop for using Ekahau for Ruckus designs. I carried out the deployment and it took around 20 minutes.

The solution provides good reporting and is easy to use but the pricing is a sore point even though you get what you pay for. This is a very expensive solution, more than double AirMagnet. In terms of the South African rand and economy, it's very expensive. Our annual licensing costs amount to the equivalent of around 9000 euros.

If you have the budget for it, this is a very good product. We've been doing WiFi for quite a long time and we didn't do the online training or use the guides. For anyone new to the solution, it's worth spending a couple of hours with the online help that's available. 

The only downfall is the price so I rate this solution a nine out of 10.

We use Ekahau Site Survey for our customers' companies. I work for a Cisco partner and a Huawei partner, and we use the product when we deploy Cisco and Huawei.

I have found all of the features useful, depending on which phase we're looking for. The planning feature is useful because it's very affordable. The planning feature permits us to import the DWG file and get the old wall inside of it.

The building feature is also useful because it can be done layer by layer and floor by floor, not only in the planning site.

The GPS feature inside Ekahau could be improved. When we have a small office, it's no problem because the planning and workflow is just enough, but in the grid field we have a 250 access point. In this case, performing a survey work through is complicated, and the GPS feature could be very useful.

When we generate the report, sometimes we have too much information and it's not explained well. We have to take time to change it or make comments because it's not clear, especially for our customers who don't have deeper knowledge. 

The radial planning feature could be improved. The interference report and the spectrum analyzer could be easier to use. It would help if an estimate of the program could tell us what type of interference we have. For instance, Cisco tell us what types of interference there are.

It would be helpful if the tool could be managed by someone who doesn't have a lot of experience and doesn't need any support to do a site survey. That could increase its value in comparison with other software.

I have been using Ekahau Site Survey for about 10 years.

We don't have much experience with technical support because we don't have many problems. However, we have had problems with software licensing. Sometimes the GPS will be broken or unavailable. In that case, we contacted Ekahau for technical assistance and after that, we didn't have any problems with the product.

The pricing could be lower because the Huawei radial planning is free for the partner. When I asked my boss about buying Ekahau and the USB key, it was complicated because of the high cost, which is €5,000.

For the licensing policy, I spent €5,000 and get support for maybe one or two years. It could be cheaper.

I would rate this solution seven out of ten.

Our primary use case for this solution is to conduct wifi site surveys. It works in any environment.

We use this solution to improve wifi network performance or design proper networks. It is possible to eliminate issues such as co-channel interference or adjacent-channel interference. It can also locate devices that are causing interference.

The ability to perform dual-band spectrum analysis while conducting the standard wifi site survey is a tremendous time saver. The built-in battery allows us to survey longer without stopping for power.

I find the power button hard to access with just one hand. It really needs one hand to hold the device while the other pushes the button. It would also be improved if other mounting options besides the strap were available. Also, the strap should be easy release. 

It is very stable. Works as designed. 

In terms of technical support, it is hit or miss. They tend to rely on offshore support for the first level and the response time is painfully slow, considering I pay $1389 per year for it. Most of it is by email, which takes up to 24 hours to get a response (usually asking for more info). After this, another 24 hours before they respond again asking for something else. It can take three or four days to answer simple questions.

Prior to acquiring Sidekick, we conducted our surveys with a laptop, three external NIC cards, and two spectrum analysis antennas. It was just as effective as using the Sidekick with an iPad or laptop, but it was bulky and required power constantly in order to maintain the batteries.

The initial setup is relatively easy if you have already used Ekahau in the past. If not, the learning curve is steep. The documentation is not very strong.

We implemented this solution using our in-house team.

As a wireless professional, I need to conduct at least seven or eight small-scale surveys, or two to three large-scale surveys, in order to recover the costs.

This solution is not cheap. If you only need an occasional site survey, you are better off contracting a wireless engineering professional that has one.

The cost for the device and software runs in excess of $6500 plus $1389 per year in maintenance fees. Add to it the cost of an iPad and you are getting close to $10,000, and you still don't know how to use it!

We found that there is no other option like it on the market.

This is a professional tool. You have to know how to use it. 

Used in conjunction with the Ekahau Pro software and a professional wireless engineer, this tool will make conducting a wireless site survey a breeze.

The most valuable feature of Ekahau Site Survey is the predictive survey.

I wish there were a competitor to keep Ekahau Site Survey's pricing in line, but there's none.

I have been working with Ekahau Site Survey for five to six years.

Ekahau Site Survey is a very stable solution. It doesn't crash, and it has a long battery life.

I rate Ekahau Site Survey ten out of ten for stability.

In mining, we have a choice between iBwave, Ekahau Site Survey, and a few other products. All my clients use Ekahau Site Survey.

I rate Ekahau Site Survey ten out of ten for scalability.

Ekahau Site Survey is a really expensive solution.

Ekahau Site Survey is focused on on-site surveys.

I need to know what users want to use the solution for. If they want to use it for their own office, their office better be a big one with plenty of branches. Otherwise, it's not worth it. It's more reasonable to call me to come over to your office and look at your Wi-Fi rather than buy Ekahau Site Survey.

Ekahau Site Survey is the only product that gives you the full flexibility of site survey and on-site survey. There's no other product that can compare to it. That's the problem. If another product can compare, function to function with Ekahau, it's a whole different ball game. Right now, Ekahau dominates the market.

Whenever a tender comes out, people will specify Ekahau, so it's very difficult to move away from it. Since it has become the default product, it's demanding very high prices.

Overall, I rate Ekahau Site Survey a nine out of ten.

We use the solution for wireless site surveys, wireless design, and troubleshooting.

Channel planning, access points' auto position, and the size of the spectrum are valuable to me. I am quite satisfied with the solution.

The information regarding the clients and signal strengths is missing in the Ekahau console.

I have been using the solution for four years.

I rate the stability of the tool a nine out of ten. The older version is more stable compared to the newer one. I downloaded the old version last week. The new version does not allow us to load projects to the cloud.

I rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten. We have six devices in our organization.

Contacting the support team is really easy. When I create a ticket, an engineer is assigned to my ticket in a couple of hours.

Positive

The initial setup was quite easy. We have Ekahau AI Pro. We are also using the cloud version, where we upload the projects and share them with everybody on the team. The visibility of the projects is much easier. The deployment took five days.

We did the deployment in-house.

I have seen an ROI on the solution.

The product is quite expensive. However, it is worth the money since we want a professional solution for site surveys and Wi-Fi design.

We are using Ekahau AI Pro and Ekahau Connect. The products are integrated with the cloud. When I created a new ticket with Ekahau for license validation, the team told me to wait until the new version was deployed. I downgraded to the older version, as they recommended. If we want a professional site survey and a professional design tool, we need Ekahau Site Survey. It is mandatory. Overall, I rate the tool a nine and a half out of ten.

Anyone suffering WiFi issues should have a solid WiFi site survey conducted. Same if you are going to design a new system. 

It allows me to conduct more in-depth surveys and find the problems in a consistent manner. It also helps in preparing proposals for new networks. 

The most valuable features are the ability to read existing WiFi services and to produce a reliable report on coverage.

The coverage patterns / strengths built into the inventory of APs in Ekahau is overly optimistic or too generous. This is not the fault of Ekahau - it is the fault of the various vendors that produce the antenna patterns they use. We tested several models of Cisco and Ubiquiti devices in open areas and found that reality versus the Ekahau predictive values were different. In reality, they did not cover as far and as strong as Ekahau’s inventory would suggest. Again - not the fault of Ekahau. This is an issue with the data being supplied to them by the various vendors. 

This can lead to a bad design when using a predictive survey. Our testing was conducted on an open field with no major source of RF interference in the area. 

The product is still very valuable when used by someone with enough experience in the field to know when something doesn't seem right. Someone that can make adjustments to the design based on reality. 

I have not really encountered any stability issues.

I have not encountered any scalability issues.

Customer Service:

Customer service is slow to respond. They respond but the 24-hour delay to hold an open dialog is painful. There are options to call during the day and they work well.

Technical Support:

Technical support is good.

We previously used AirMagnet and NetSpot. We switched due to cost and performance. AirMagnet actually crashed a laptop and caused a complete system rebuild. NetSpot is nothing more than a low-end reader and isn't very accurate. 

Initial setup was fairly simple.

I implemented it on my own.

The ROI was pretty quick. Since I do survey work as a revenue stream, I had to conduct three paid gigs to pay for itself.

Pricing and licensing is high. Expect to pay $3000-4000 to just get the software in place... plus hardware needed. It adds up quickly. 

Before choosing this product, we also evaluated AirMagnet.

It is a good product but support needs to speed up responses. It takes 24-48 hours to get a simple response. You pay $1389 per year for support and you are had-pressed to get timely answers. 

We are using Ekahau Pro. We have been using it for site surveys. We are mainly using it for passive site surveys for large venues such as sporting arenas and convention centers.

I don't handle the software that much. I'll do some of the testing with our CTO. It is primarily him and I. He has commented before that he likes the fact that with two licenses, we can set it up so that when we're on a large facility, he can see where I am and I can see where he is. That's for sure is very handy in large venues. 

It is a little bit more expensive than other solutions. 

Our CTO was not real happy with their support.

I have probably two years of hands-on experience.

I don't recall any stability issues. We're quite happy with it.

One thing I know our CTO was not real happy with was support. I can't recall the issue, but dealing with the support in the US was a bit painful. We bought it directly out of the US as opposed to Canada.

It was pretty straightforward for my CTO.

If the business would've kept going the way it was, we probably would've had it for a couple of years. With COVID and everything, we had a bit of a gap in the continuation of the workload that we had scheduled.

The licenses are a little pricey compared to iBwave, etc.

Overall, we're pretty happy with it. One reason why we bought Ekahau was that one of our major customers happen to use Ekahau at a large Telco. They just don't have a lot of operators that can run it, and when we provide reports to them, it is for them to read and research, and things like that.

I work closely with the guy who does all the CAD work. He imports the CAD files and sets everything up, and he seems to be happy with that aspect of it. He had just that one issue with service support. So, based on that, I would rate it a nine out of 10.

Our customers use the solution's software plus Sidekick.

Ekahau Site Survey is user-friendly. The solution is suited best for medium-sized companies.

Ekahau would benefit by making improvements to lag time. Whenever we are performing an active survey, there is a lag with the survey. 

I have been working with Ekahau Site Survey for two years.

The solution is stable.

Ekahau Site Survey is scalable, it is easy to expand. We conduct active service for the organization. There are approximately 70,000 square feet or 400 users per floor.

We have received good support from the customer service team at Ekahau. I do have one outstanding issue that has not been resolved. Overall, I would rate their support a four and a half out of five.

Positive

The initial setup of Ekahau Site Survey is simple. 

Overall, I would rate Ekahau Site Survey an eight out of ten.