Cradlepoint in Boise offers a range of routers supporting cellular or wireless failover, branch and IoT networks, and related needs, available through a variety of appliances, and via the Cradlepoint virtual edition router.
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Fortinet FortiExtender
Score 7.1 out of 10
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FortiExtender is the wireless WAN offering from Fortinet.
Fortinet itself is a well know name in managing the firewall and security. With FortiExtender they gave an excellent solution for increasing the connectivity within the organization and helps to manage it with the cloud-based system. The implementation helped to achieve lower latency and higher efficiency for the users in the organization.
When there is a problem, the errors provided in the GUI are unhelpful. In order to have a chance of solving most issues I've come across, you need to be comfortable with the CLI.
Most products in the FortiGate product line do not offer POE power support. The Extender requires POE and has no internal battery. This requires a switch or injector between the extender and the firewall. In the event of a power outage, you lose the extender if you don't have it plugged into an adequate battery. As it's installation can be in a different location then the Fortigate, this can be a hassle.
I have been using some type of device like this for a very long time. We have and will maintain the need for this and have no immediate plan to make any change from Cradlepoint Routers. They have been very solid. These devices are a bit pricey, however worth the money as they always work and are reliable and save IT staff time.
It has always been a pleasure working with that team. They always go above and beyond with getting the device working as you need it to work and are always willing to explain and answer any questions.
We have used Verizon partners for hotspots as well Inseego and jetpacks Mainly... We decided to take a chance with cradle point as they have 2 sim slots with failover as well as high build quality and external antenna As I have mentioned a few times already we had some issues with performance and with such a steep price tag and paid management portal which we would probably not move forward with these again.
Both the Fortinet FortiExtender and the Fortinet FortiGate products are great because they provide the agency with secure technology and allow for good network speed and security. Fortinet FortiExtender and Fortinet FortiGate are both costly and a better lower cost solution would be better suited if the budget restrictions of your agency are very important for you.
We needed a second internet carrier, and this device provided it without the heavy cost. You pay a small monthly fee, and whatever data you use. On average, this solution costs us $750.00 per year, compared to the monthly cost of a carrier like Comcast which ranges from $250-350 per month, which could add up to $4,200 per year for standby that may never get used.
Turnaround time for deployment was a couple of hours.
Net cloud management portal gives you centralized access to all of your devices for managing.
The additional network LAN port is available so that you can add the device to your network monitor, such as solar winds.
