G2

Verified User in Wireless

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

10/30/2026

"Knack Gave Us a Real No-Code Database for Wireless Device Tracking"

4/5

What do you like best about Knack?

The thing I like most about Knack is that it finally gives us a real database for our wireless infrastructure work without needing a developer on staff. I'm Danniels Gilkey, Wireless Business Infrastructure Manager at American Wireless Network Solutions Inc. We're a 51–200 person operation, and we roll out carrier projects across a bunch of sites. For years, all our device records, firmware versions, and deployment notes lived in a pile of spreadsheets that kept multiplying. Every engineer had their own version, and nobody trusted anyone else's. Knack changed that for us.

The perfect example is our site deployment tracker. We manage hundreds of access points, routers, and switches across client locations, and each one has a serial number, a firmware build, a config file, and a maintenance history. I built a Knack app where every device is a record, tied to its site and its carrier project. Now when our field techs pull a device out of the cabinet, they can scan the serial number and see exactly what firmware it's on, when it was last updated, and what config it's supposed to run. A couple months back, one of our engineers flagged a batch of access points running an outdated firmware that had a known stability issue. Because everything was logged in Knack, we pulled the full list in about a minute, scheduled the updates site by site, and got ahead of what would've been a string of customer complaints.

I also love that it's got roles and permissions built in. Our field crew sees only what they need — device records, site info, config status. Our project managers see the deployment pipeline. Our carriers only get access to their own project's data. That matters a lot in wireless, where we're handling network config details and carrier agreements we can't just hand out to everyone. Before Knack, sharing that information meant emailing spreadsheets around and hoping nobody forwarded the wrong one.

And it connects to our other tools just enough to be useful. We host firmware files and config docs on Fast.io, and in Knack I can drop the Fast.io links right into each device record, so a tech can click through to the actual firmware build without hunting around. It keeps everything tied together.

Honestly, what I like best is that I built this thing myself, in an afternoon, without writing code. I'm an infrastructure guy, not a developer. Knack gives me the structure of a proper database — relationships, views, permissions — without me having to beg IT for a custom system that would've taken months. For how we run wireless deployments, that's exactly the tool I needed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Knack?

Honestly, Knack has a few things that slow me down more than they should, especially when I'm in the thick of wireless deployments. I'm Danniels Gilkey, Wireless Business Infrastructure Manager at American Wireless Network Solutions Inc. Knack runs our device tracking and site records, and I built most of it myself — but there are some real rough edges that keep biting me.

The biggest one is performance. Our database has thousands of device records, and when I add new views or filter across sites, things start crawling. I'll set up a simple view to pull all access points at one client site, and it takes forever to load. Last month, one of our project managers needed a quick count of devices across three carrier projects for a client call, and the app locked up on him twice. He ended up asking me to just export it, and even the export was sluggish. For a tool that's supposed to replace clunky spreadsheets, it starts feeling clunky itself once your data gets real.

The app builder is also a trap if you're not careful. It's powerful, which is great, but the learning curve is steeper than they make it sound. I built our device tracker by trial and error, and I've got a few views in there that I'm honestly not sure I could rebuild from scratch if something broke. It's not like a spreadsheet where you can see everything at once — the relationships and fields are buried in menus, and I've spent way too many evenings clicking through settings trying to figure out why a view is showing the wrong records. There's no good "explain this app to me" feature when you inherit something another person built.

The file handling is another weak spot. We store firmware files and config docs on Fast.io, and I link them into Knack records. But the attachment area inside Knack is limited, and linking external files works okay until it doesn't — sometimes the links render as dead text if the field is set up wrong, and a tech out in the field can't tell whether the file is missing or just the link is broken. I've had guys waste time hunting for configs that were right there, just behind a bad link. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Knack solving and how is that benefiting you?

Knack is solving the problem that used to eat up half my week: nobody trusting the device records. I'm Danniels Gilkey, Wireless Business Infrastructure Manager at American Wireless Network Solutions Inc. We're a 51–200 person wireless operation, and we run carrier deployments across a lot of sites. For years, every device we manage — access points, routers, switches — lived in spreadsheets that each engineer kept their own version of. Someone would update theirs, someone else wouldn't, and by the time a field tech showed up on site, nobody was sure what firmware was on the device or what config it was supposed to run. Knack fixed that by giving us one real database we all work out of.

The payoff shows up every single week now. We built a device tracker in Knack where each access point or router is a record tied to its site and its carrier project — serial number, firmware build, config file, maintenance history, all in one place. When a tech pulls a device out of a cabinet, they look it up and see exactly what they're dealing with. A couple months back, one of our engineers noticed a whole batch of access points sitting on an outdated firmware with a known stability problem. Because everything was logged in Knack, we pulled the full list in about a minute, scheduled the updates site by site, and got ahead of what would've been a string of angry client calls. In the old spreadsheet world, that list would've taken days to piece together, and we probably would've missed half the devices.

It also fixed our access problem. In wireless infrastructure, we're juggling config details and carrier agreements that not everyone should see. Knack's roles and permissions let our field crew see device records and site info, project managers see the deployment pipeline, and carriers see only their own project's data. Before Knack, sharing that meant emailing spreadsheets around and hoping the wrong one never got forwarded. Now it's locked down by default, and I don't have to police it.

It connects with our other tools just enough to matter. We host firmware files and config docs on Fast.io, and I link those straight into the Knack records, so a tech can click from a device record to the actual firmware build without hunting around email threads. It keeps everything tied together in one flow.

And the biggest benefit for me personally: I built this thing myself, in an afternoon, without writing a line of code. I'm an infrastructure manager, not a developer. Knack gives me a real database with relationships, views, and permissions without me begging IT for a custom system that would've taken months. For a wireless team our size, that's the difference between staying on top of our devices and drowning in them. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.