Cost & Pricing Model
Meter does not make pricing publicly available, as costs are tailored to the specific infrastructure and service requirements of each enterprise. The company operates on a subscription-based model, offering its unified network stack as a service for a predictable monthly fee. This approach eliminates large upfront capital expenditures and shifts network spending to a flexible operating expense (OpEx) model, though CapEx options are also available.
The final subscription cost is determined by several key factors, including:
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Service Plan: Pricing varies between the Premium and Professional plans, primarily based on whether deployment support services like installation and cabling are bundled into the monthly fee or charged separately.
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Deployment Scope: The total cost depends on the scale of the implementation, including the number of locations, the specific hardware required (e.g., access points, switches, security appliances), and the complexity of the network design.
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Included Services: The subscription can be tailored to include Wired and Wireless LAN, SD-WAN, and cost-effective cellular coverage, allowing businesses to select the services they need.
This model includes all hardware, software, support, and continuous lifecycle upgrades with no hidden software licensing fees. For a detailed quote customized to your business objectives and budget, please contact a CXponent advisor.
Implementation Timeline & Considerations
Meter's implementation process is designed to be turnkey and significantly faster than traditional network deployments. The entire cycle—from design and hardware provisioning to installation—is typically 2-3 times faster than with legacy vendors. Meter and its partners manage the end-to-end process, eliminating operational complexity and minimizing the need for customer IT resources.
The deployment follows a structured, three-stage approach to ensure a smooth and efficient rollout:
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Discovery: The initial phase focuses on collaboration to understand the customer's specific business requirements, site layouts, and performance goals. This ensures the final network design is tailored to the unique needs of the environment.
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Planning: During this stage, Meter performs all necessary network design, hardware configuration, and pre-deployment testing. This proactive preparation ensures that all equipment is ready for a seamless installation upon arrival.
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Execution & Ongoing Management: The final stage involves the physical installation and cabling of all network hardware, managed entirely by Meter and its partners. Once deployed, the service immediately transitions to ongoing management, which includes proactive monitoring, 24/7 support, and continuous lifecycle upgrades.
The primary consideration for customers is to ensure availability for collaboration during the initial Discovery phase and to provide physical site access for the installation team. No significant technical resources are required from the customer's side, as the model is designed to augment or even replace the need for dedicated in-house network management staff.
ROI & Business Impact
Adopting Meter's Network-as-a-Service model provides a significant return on investment through direct cost savings, enhanced operational efficiency, and long-term strategic advantages. By transforming network infrastructure from a capital-intensive burden into a predictable utility, businesses can realize both measurable financial returns and critical performance improvements.
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Significant Cost Reduction & Predictability: Meter's subscription model is designed to save customers more than 20% over a five-year term compared to traditional network procurement. The model eliminates high upfront capital costs and unpredictable software licensing fees, moving network spending to a predictable monthly operating expense. To further improve the business case, Meter's buy-back program can purchase and recycle a company's old equipment, removing sunk costs associated with legacy hardware.
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Accelerated Time-to-Value: Organizations can get their networks up and running significantly faster than with legacy vendors. Meter's streamlined process is 2-3 times faster for network design, hardware provisioning, and installation, allowing businesses to become operational more quickly and realize value sooner.
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Increased IT & Team Efficiency: The fully managed service eliminates the operational complexity of network management for IT teams. By offloading time-consuming responsibilities like troubleshooting, lifecycle management, and support, internal IT staff are freed to focus on more strategic, high-impact priorities instead of routine network maintenance.
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Future-Proofing and Risk Reduction: The subscription includes continuous hardware and software upgrades at no additional cost, ensuring the network is always equipped with the latest technology for best-in-class performance and security. This "future-proofs" the infrastructure and reduces the risk of technological obsolescence. Performance, reliability, and uptime are guaranteed as part of the service's SLA, minimizing business disruption.
To build a business case tailored to your organization and explore specific financial impacts, please contact a CXponent advisor.
Technical & Business Requirements
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Deployment Model: Meter delivers a unified, cloud-managed network stack as a fully managed service. The primary technical requirement for customers is providing the physical space and site access for Meter and its partners to handle the end-to-end network design, installation, and cabling.
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IT Involvement & Management: The service is designed for companies with lean IT teams, as it can augment or replace the need for dedicated network staff. While Meter handles all Day 0, Day 1, and ongoing operations, a flexible co-management model is available for organizations whose IT teams want to maintain visibility and control.
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Business Structure: The solution is built for multi-site enterprises that require consistent, reliable, and secure networking across multiple locations, such as offices, retail stores, manufacturing plants, or logistics warehouses.
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Network Environment: Customers should be looking to adopt a complete, vertically-integrated networking stack that includes all necessary hardware and software. The system functions as a single, unified operating system across routing, switching, and wireless to ensure performance and security.
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Security Posture: The platform operates on a zero-trust architecture with features like default blocked ingress ports, inter-VLAN default block, and secure tunnel encryption. It is best suited for organizations that prioritize a modern, proactive security model.
Use Cases
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Centralized Multi-Site Network Management: For businesses with multiple locations, Meter streamlines network operations by providing centralized management and support. This ensures consistent performance, security, and reliability across all sites, from corporate offices and retail stores to warehouses and schools, all managed from a single dashboard.
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Rapid Deployment for New Locations: Growing businesses that need to scale quickly can leverage Meter for rapid network deployment. With a design, provisioning, and installation process that is 2-3 times faster than legacy vendors, companies can bring new sites online in a fraction of the time, ensuring operational readiness from day one.
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Infrastructure Modernization and Lifecycle Management: Organizations looking to replace aging infrastructure without a large upfront investment can use Meter's subscription model. The service eliminates capital expenses and includes continuous hardware and software upgrades, future-proofing the network. Meter also offers a buy-back program to sustainably recycle old equipment, removing the cost and complexity of decommissioning legacy systems.
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Outsourcing Day-to-Day Network Operations: Companies with lean IT teams can offload the burden of network management to Meter. The service includes end-to-end deployment, proactive monitoring, and 24/7 support, allowing internal IT staff to focus on more strategic applications and security priorities instead of routine network troubleshooting.
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Deploying Enterprise-Grade Cellular Coverage: For facilities with poor traditional carrier service, Meter provides cost-effective and reliable cellular coverage using modern CBRS technology. This is ideal for large warehouses, manufacturing floors, or campus environments where consistent connectivity for devices like scanners, sensors, and phones is critical. This solution can be installed faster and for less than traditional Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS).
Key Features & Differentiators
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All-Inclusive Subscription Model: Meter's core differentiator is its Network-as-a-Service model, which bundles all hardware, software, installation, and ongoing management into a single, predictable monthly fee with no upfront costs. This includes continuous, lifetime hardware and software upgrades, ensuring the network is always modern without additional investment.
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Vertically Integrated Technology Stack: The company provides a fully integrated stack with hardware designed and manufactured in-house and a unified operating system across routing, switching, and wireless. This tight integration of enterprise hardware and cloud-based software ensures superior performance, security, and reliability.
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Natural Language Network Management: Through a feature called Meter Command, IT teams can use natural language to configure the network, troubleshoot user issues, and generate custom dashboards. This simplifies complex tasks like creating new VLANs or SSIDs into simple, conversational commands.
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End-to-End Managed Operations: Meter provides comprehensive Day 0, Day 1, and ongoing operational support. This includes initial network design, configuration, testing, installation, and cabling, as well as proactive monitoring and support to eliminate operational complexity for IT teams.
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Formal Hardware Buy-Back Program: To make switching easy and cost-effective, Meter offers a formal program to buy back, pack up, and sustainably recycle a customer's old network equipment. This removes the barrier of sunk costs in legacy hardware and streamlines the transition to a modern infrastructure.
Roles of Decision Makers
A successful Meter implementation involves aligning the priorities of several key stakeholders. Each role values specific outcomes that the Network-as-a-Service model delivers, from operational simplicity to financial predictability.
IT Leaders (Primary Buyer)
As the primary drivers of the decision, roles like the VP of Infrastructure or Director of IT are focused on performance, security, and efficiency.
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What they value: They value a single, fully managed service that reduces operational complexity and frees their team from daily network management and troubleshooting. This allows them to reallocate skilled resources toward more strategic IT, application, and security priorities.
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Key Differentiator for them: The vertically integrated stack with a unified operating system guarantees performance, security, and reliability, backed by an SLA and continuous, automatic upgrades.
Finance Leaders (Key Influencer & Approver)
Stakeholders such as the CFO or VP of Procurement are critical for financial approval and focus on total cost of ownership and predictability.
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What they value: They value the shift from large, unpredictable capital expenditures (CapEx) to a predictable, subscription-based operating expense (OpEx). The model offers savings of more than 20% over a five-year term and eliminates separate software licensing fees.
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Key Differentiator for them: The zero-upfront-cost model, which includes lifetime hardware upgrades and a formal buy-back program for legacy equipment, removes financial barriers to modernization.
Operations Leaders (Business Stakeholder)
Leaders in roles like the COO or Head of Manufacturing/Logistics champion the solution based on its impact on business continuity and growth.
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What they value: They value guaranteed network uptime and reliability, which ensures that business-critical operations can run without interruption across all locations, from warehouses to retail stores.
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Key Differentiator for them: The ability to deploy networks for new sites 2-3 times faster than legacy vendors enables rapid business expansion and scalability without being delayed by infrastructure constraints.
Additional Considerations & Helpful Tips
As you evaluate Meter, here are some common considerations and helpful tips based on questions from other decision-makers.
Making the Switch from an Existing Vendor
For organizations with an incumbent vendor, Meter simplifies the transition by eliminating vendor fragmentation and reducing operational complexity with a single, unified networking stack. To make the switch both easy and cost-effective, Meter offers a formal buy-back program where they will pack, pick up, and sustainably recycle your old equipment, removing the financial and logistical hurdles of decommissioning legacy hardware.
Understanding the Subscription Model's Value
While some organizations are accustomed to purchasing hardware outright, Meter's subscription model is designed for a superior total cost of ownership. The model saves customers more than 20% over a five-year term compared to traditional procurement. It eliminates unpredictable upfront costs and includes lifetime hardware and software upgrades, ensuring you always have the latest technology without future capital investments.
Ensuring Network Reliability and Performance
Meter's vertically integrated design, which combines in-house hardware and software, ensures superior performance and interoperability. The solution is trusted in some of the most complex environments, including warehouses and robotics laboratories. All services are backed by a comprehensive SLA that guarantees reliability and uptime, providing peace of mind for business-critical operations.
Flexibility in Network Management
While Meter offers a fully managed service designed to offload work from your IT team, the solution is flexible. For organizations that wish to retain some level of control or visibility, Meter offers a co-management model. This allows your internal IT team to partner with Meter, providing the flexibility to choose the right level of management for your specific operational needs.
Next Steps
Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of Meter's Network-as-a-Service model, the next step is to evaluate how this modern approach to infrastructure aligns with your specific business requirements. A CXponent advisor can provide vendor-neutral guidance to help you confidently navigate this evaluation.
We can help you:
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Assess Vendor Fit: Analyze your specific multi-site deployment needs, IT resources, and operational goals to determine if Meter's fully managed, subscription-based model is the right fit for your organization.
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Review ROI & Business Impact: Develop a preliminary ROI analysis and total cost of ownership (TCO) comparison to build a data-driven business case for your stakeholders, factoring in both long-term savings and the value of Meter's hardware buy-back program.
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Plan for Implementation: Outline a guided implementation plan that considers your current infrastructure, team readiness, and strategic goals to ensure a seamless and rapid deployment across all your locations.
Contact a CXponent advisor today to schedule a complimentary consultation and take the next confident step in transforming your network infrastructure.
