[qi:011] Meraki Networks, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company that makes mesh networking gear is listening to its community, and tweaking its new three tier business model in an effort to appease some of their customers. We were among the first to bring attention to the brewing discontent.

Meraki had boosted prices of their hardware and had incorporated some other ad-related initiatives that didn’t sit well with some of their customers who fell in the “Pro” category. In a comment following our previous post, Meraki CEO and co-founder Sanjit Biswas outlined his reasons for a newer Pro tier and price increases. This evening he wrote to us and let us know that Meraki made some changes.

(more customization/control, support for local community sponsorships, optional ads on Pro) which seem to have satisfied most of the upset customers.

He also added that the company expects “resellers to mark down the devices (same way traditional networking gear is discounted) and so we’re expecting the street price to be much lower than $150 for Pro.” I think the big issue for Meraki has been that they didn’t do a good job of communicating with their community. Nevertheless, if the price of the gear can be brought to acceptable levels (to their community), Meraki can continue to expand its ComMuniFi business model.