Xclaim Xi-3 with CloudManager Reviewed

[L&LD]

Well, I did not read the whole article, just browsed enough to confirm the product needs you to configure it over the 'cloud'.

That is enough for me to never recommend this product for anyone at any level. Regardless of how well it works.

The few points I did see (one week limits of logs, etc.) were not encouraging either. But that is the least of my worries of such offerings.

I hope they don't sell even one of these units and manufacturers finally let it sink in that 'cloud' is the same as 'insecure', 'captive' and clearly unneeded and unwanted in this and almost any (hardware) field.

Others may feel differently. But when I buy a device that simultaneously is granting access to my digital resources (or those of my customers) and also is required to secure those same assets, having the control of the devices that do the securing be available to any and all (hackers and berserk company employees) on the internet is not my idea of sanity.

Not to mention what a pile of paperweights they will become when (not if) the company, service or lifespan as determined at the sole discretion of the current or future owners of the company decides that their servers won't respond to Xi-3 hardware anymore.

I want a device that I own and can run as long as it is physically capable of doing so. I don't want to be led down a path of nickel and diming me into unlimited and un-ending future payments of each and every little thing I need to do in today's world. And I most certainly do not want to rely on the future viability of any and every company I do business with (nor gamble that the next company that acquires them will be compassionate for their previous customers either).

I can be persuaded to buy the most expensive product in any area we care to discuss.

But I refuse to be handed a noose and led to believe that putting it around my own neck is for my own good.

 

[thiggins]

Xclaim APs can be configured and managed via the Harmony app. No cloud involved.

 

[BigTy]

I agree with this review totally. I had this AP and found that a lot of mid level to some basic features to be missing in the roll out of cloud manager. The main feature what closed the deal for me was roaming and radio adjustments. If I can setup a multi AP network to allow good roaming this isn't the AP a business could use. I ended up returning the APs and giving the feedback to Xclaim telling them why. As I said many of times to them I don't want to pay them for a public beta of their equipment.

I am glad to see this fair review of their product and to see I wasn't to only one to see about the same views as it stands at this point.

 

[remixedcat]

I did get one of these and the performance was ok, however , I do agree that both Harmony and CM were very lacking and even small biz owners would agree that options are lacking. A salon owner wanted more client details and tracking to make sure their clients weren't doing anything bad or wanted to be able to control them more. A restaurant owner wanted to ensure that some handhelds weren't having a buncha network errors and screwups so they didn't have to get the unresponsive handheld vendor involved. There's just so many things missing from these that are even present in consumer based routers that are the same price range. Other than having PoE and VLANs, these really lack compared to household APs.