Fortinet FortiExtender vs. UniFi Cloud Gateways

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.

Incentivized

The Ubiquiti Wireless WAN solution can be used in both small and large corporate environments. However, as it has a rather high cost, its cost-benefit is greater in medium and large corporations, as small corporations may not take advantage of as many resources as the integration between Wi-Fi devices. In medium and large corporations, resources like this represent a very great facility in network management and in the availability of the connection in a transparent way at different points of the company, together with the security of isolated networks logically being made available by the same Wi-Fi device.

Incentivized

• It has provided us ease of integrating it with other devices most specifically Forti devices
• It is quite stable and is much secure.
• It provides us with comprehensive support in backup connectivity.
• It has excellent coverage and it is something most essential for us.

Incentivized

• Automatically load balances based on band. Makes it simple to spread out users.
• Updates can be set to automatic or manual. Automatic uses rolling updates, happens every time we update the controller.
• Continually add new features and improvements with their FREE software upgrades

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Supply can be a problem, especially for new products. We have had to sometimes wait for months for supply to come in.
• No phone support. Only email/chat. can be frustrating sometimes just texting someone, but have not had to contact them very often.

Incentivized

The combination of performance, range, low-power use, and manageability made it ideal for us.

We have not needed to contact support, except to replace one device that was damaged in shipping. The company immediately issued an RMA without delay, and we had our replacement product within a week

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.

Incentivized

Prior to this, we used Cisco Meraki wireless access points, which did not allow for centralized control, therefore several access points shared the same SSID. Because the client's movement from one device to another was not as seamless and reliable as it is with the current Ubiquiti solution, this shift cost both time and stability during configuration.

Incentivized

• We no longer fear if the fiber cable network gets collapsed as it is a great backup for us.
• The critical processes of our company work without any pause.
• The kind of secure network we are enjoying has paid us off.

Incentivized

• Huge cost savings. Buy it once and you are done, no annual renewals.
• Extremely reliable and scalable. We went from 0 to 900 Chromebooks in 2 years.
• Very little maintenance, set it and forget it. Allows us to focus on other tasks.

Incentivized