Cisco Wireless Reviews

We primarily use the solution in order to provide wireless clients access to our hospital network.

The BCO is a great basic feature.

We enjoy having access to the security features and MAC filtering. 

All the files are standard and supported, which is a good thing.

The initial setup is easy. It's fairly quick to deploy.

The product scales well and expands quite easily.

The interface could be better.

It's a hospital network; we have a lot of X-ray machines and other machines which may interrupt the WiFi signals. They need to provide more stability with respect to the interference or help us can analyze what is causing the interference issues from the controller side so that we could more effectively troubleshoot.

The pricing of the product is quite high.

I've heard the WiFi 6 is in the market and I would like to explore WiFi 6 features. 

Having a single SSID and adding a personal device or an organizational device that an SSID can automatically pick and connect to would be great.

I've been working with the solution for over ten years at this point. It's been a while now. 

While the product is stable, in some areas when the user sees a disconnection, we are not able to identify whether it's an access point issue or if it is due to some interference in that area of the hospital (due to hospital equipment). We need help detecting issues via the controller.

We have around 4,000 to 5,000 users on the solution. 

It is easy to scale as it is centralized. You just need to add more access points if you would like to expand the product.

Technical support is great. One time, we had a controller issue due to a hardware failure and they replaced it within two days. They are extremely helpful and responsive. We are satisfied with the level of support they provide. 

The initial setup is very simple. It's not overly complex or difficult. A company shouldn't have any trouble implementing it. 

Initially, we need to get the hardware and put the basic configurations of network settings in order. I don't think it will take more than one hour to do the basic configuration. More complexity, however, does take time. 

The solution doesn't require too much maintenance. Our access points are very old, however, they are pretty stable. For around 10 years, we have been running on the old hardware and it is time to renew, actually, as the product is almost end of support. However, so far, the maintenance has been quite minimal.

The first time we implemented the solution, we did request vendor support.

The product is quite expensive, and it's making us reconsider staying with Cisco. 

As this solution is near its end-of-life, my company is looking into other solutions such as Aruba or Huawei. We have not decided yet on what we will do, however, the Cisco pricing is very costly. We would like to check out other options that are cheaper, and which can offer the same kind of stability and features.

I'm just a customer and an end-user.

We aren't necessarily using the latest version of the solution. Some access points, for example, are so old we cannot upgrade them any longer. 

I'd recommend the solution to other users. If you have the money and budget, Cisco is a good, stable solution.

I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten. 

We have deployed 5000 customer access points to provide product navigation and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Cisco Wireless enables end-to-end connectivity for endpoints. We can deploy wireless access points indoors and outdoors as well.

The product has valuable features for integration and authentication.

They should introduce zero interference capabilities.

We have been using Cisco Wireless for 14 years. At present, we use the latest version.

The product is stable. Cisco provides good support services in case of outages.

We have six medium and large businesses as customers for Cisco Wireless. We have integrated it with multiple solutions. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten.

Cisco provides quick and efficient support services. Whenever you call them, they immediately assign the engineers. This is the first time I have seen any other vendor responding this quickly. It is the part of the product.

Positive

The initial setup process takes two to four months. We collect the essential information for the network implementation document. Further, we deploy a few controllers and integrate the application. Later, we add endpoints to the existing network and create server IDs. We test the connection's speed efficiency and the signal's strength. This is how we complete the deployment process.

The platform is expensive for small-scale businesses. There are no extra costs included. We can add essential features to the on-premise version as required.

I rate the pricing an eight or nine out of ten.

They provide good support services for the tenure of the contract and software upgrade. I rate it an eight out of ten.

It is an extremely stable and scalable solution. Their documentation and support are also very good.

There is no technology without room for improvement. The main setback with Cisco solutions, not only with Cisco Wireless, is having to update the OS manually. We are now migrating to Miraki, so we've been able to work that out. 

There is also a small gap in the space of compatibility.

We've been deploying Cisco Wireless in our environment for over 20 years.

It is extremely stable.

It is extremely scalable.

Their support is very good, and their documentation is also very good.

We have only been working with Cisco Wireless. We are a partner and reseller.

Its implementation is not complex. I have trained experts working with me, so it is not at all complex.

Its price is a bit high. It is more expensive than its competitors, but when I look at the return on investment, it is worth it.

If budget is an issue, then you can go for a cheaper option. If you're not planning for a big environment, you don't necessarily need to invest in Cisco because of the price.

I would rate it an eight out of 10. Overall, I am very satisfied with this solution.

Our primary use case is for a guest portal type of scenario where different types of users can connect. We use SAML authentication for that. We are customers of Cisco via a third-party vendor and I'm a network specialist.

It's valuable to us that creating policies is simple. We use Cisco ISE and it works well with the product. 

I've found that the media stream and Mojo settings are not sufficiently supported. The other issue we have is that when the access point goes down, we don't get any indication of the reason. This has to be fine-tuned so that a trigger is sent to the Cisco Server or any third-party server, and we get the alerts. I'd really like to see bug-free software.

I've been using this solution for over a year. 

Stability could be improved but it's not bad. 

The solution is easy to scale and if you have the latest wireless controller, you can really extend the coverage and extend the APs.

Technical support is awesome, we're very satisfied. 

I know that Aruba is better than Cisco, they really need to improve things. 

We carried out the implementation ourselves and it was quite straightforward. It took around six to eight months to implement the entire solution, install access points, configure and fine-tune. There's no specific maintenance required, it's mostly the operational aspect, upgrading software, and hardware support. We currently have around 6,000 users. 

Cisco is a bit pricey compared to other vendors like Ruckus which have pretty decent pricing. If a customer asks me for a cost-effective solution, I may go with Huawei but if it's in the enterprise dev environment, then I'd go with Cisco, Aruba, or Ruckus as a third choice.

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

I use Cisco Wireless Wireless across my buildings for education. I have students that use Chromebooks and staff that teach using the tool. 

Cisco Wireless provides network access for students. The benefits of using Cisco Wireless are we have enhanced education, and help kids learn and research. Additionally, it helps the staff teach.

The most valuable features of Cisco Wireless are the level of control and management. I am happy with it.

The reporting tool in Cisco Wireless could improve. If I am trying to receive information about a client or user, it's cumbersome to retrieve the information on the controller system. If I'm trying to find out where a client's been, it's cumbersome. You need another tool for Historical logs, but it should be all in one.

I have been using Cisco Wireless for approximately 10 years.

Cisco Wireless is stable.

I can add more access points if needed, Cisco Wireless is a scalable solution.

We have approximately 3,000 users using this solution. We are using the solution extensively.

My experience with Cisco support has been excellent.

The setup of Cisco Wireless is straightforward and it took a couple of days to complete.

I outsource some of the implementations and the planning stage can be the largest issue.

I do most of the maintenance of the solution, such as patching.

I would recommend a third-party integrator if they need help implementing the  Cisco Wireless, they can help out a lot.

I rate Cisco Wireless an eight out of ten.

Overall Cisco Wireless meets my needs, it has been in place for a while, and I am happy with the solution.

The coverage area of Cisco Wireless could improve. Additionally, the reports when a problem arises could be better, such as how it is done in Aruba Wireless solutions. In the Aruba wireless solutions, there are reports that are provided regarding uploads, downloads, and other internet activity that are useful. If this feature was added to Cisco that would be a benefit.

I have been using Cisco Wireless for approximately 10 years.

 Cisco Wireless is reliable and stable. 

The coverage of Cisco Wireless could improve.

The technical support from Cisco is very good.

I have used other solutions previously, such as Aruba and Huawei wireless.

The initial setup of Cisco Wireless is not complex. However, sometimes when connecting all contact points with the new wireless controller, there is too much configuration.

The price of Cisco Wireless is in the high range compared to other solutions. The solution could be less expensive.

I am satisfied with Cisco Wireless.

I rate Cisco Wireless an eight out of ten.

There are some features I would like to have in Cisco Wireless, such as Telemetry and other IoT. However, they are available in the new version of the solution.

I have been using Cisco Wireless for approximately 15 years.

Cisco Wireless solutions are highly scalable.

The solution is highly scalable. I have about 60 access points and it is scalable with a thousand access points.

The technical support from Cisco is good.

The initial setup of Cisco Wireless is easy.

The process involves taking the Cisco Wireless device and adding it to the network. You connect the device to the controller, and then the controller can be configured. It's very quick and easy.

The price of Cisco Wireless equipment is expensive.

Cisco has introduced a subscription pricing model where you have to always pay and renew.

I plan to change to a Catalyst 9800 next year.

If companies already have Cisco wireless infrastructure, the deployment of this solution will be easy.

I rate Cisco Wireless a nine out of ten.

I use Cisco Wireless for education as I am managing a school. We use it for connectivity for students and teachers. It is an international private school. This is why we have to get high speed connectivity.

I have not used the solution for enough time to give a full evaluation but I will tell you the estimate - I estimate that it will reduce the time for a student to do their work and reduce the time for copying and transferring data through the local network. That's the reason that what we needed to get this hardware.

The features that I have found most valuable with Cisco Wireless is that the average connectivity for this WIFI access point is 2.5 gigabytes. That's the highest technology and highest connectivity. They started using the new technology and WIFI to get you a faster connectivity. All companies jumped from Wave 2 to WIFI 6 for the high speed.

I selected Cisco Wireless because I found they improved everything, but there is still a gap in Cisco reporting. It did not invest more into giving accurate reports. That's the missing thing in the solution. 

In the next release, they should add a better reporting feature. The reporting will tell you if you have a problem. That will make the diagnostics easier. Although, we have not had problems that required a lot of diagnostics.

I just implemented the Cisco Wireless WiFi 6 last weekend.

I would be liar if I answered if it is stable because it has only been up for two days.

But the Cisco solution overall, and Cisco Wireless generally, are 100% stable.

It is scalable. We have around 2000 students and teachers using it because we are an educational institution.

I'm the IT manager. My role as IT manager is managing the whole technology results.

We require three staff people for deployment and maintenance of Cisco Wireless - a network administrator and two IT specialists.

They are good.

I have been using the Cisco solution since 2011.

The initial setup right now of the access points to the WIFI, and to the switches are managed by FortiGate firewall and the wireless controller. So the routing is through the FortiGate firewall and the activity is through the Cisco switches managed through the wireless controller.

The plan was to upgrade the firewall and remove the old non-supported access point from the system because I used hybrid between these two and WIFI 6. Because this hardware is very expensive to get all at one time, we have a plan to replace all access points for these.

The development takes three days. But the delivery takes a long time. They take a lot of time to deliver hardware. 

We implemented with a Cisco partner. They were experts. They did all they were supposed to do and it was active within the time as planned.

Two days is not enough to see ROI.

But for the previous experience, yes, I can see ROI. The old access points stayed with us since 2015. I have some working since 2017. I removed some from the system, so I have all 2017 access points still working. That is quite a reliable system.

Any people who are looking to get a stable solution with and long life and long time connectivity should go with Cisco.

The big lesson is that when you invest in expensive hardware, you have to understand that it should be a trusted hardware to give you stability and to make sure that your investment will be returned soon. The cost of implementation and downtime with Cisco are less than with other solutions.

On a scale of one to ten, I would give Cisco Wireless a nine.

The support from Cisco is always excellent. It's often better than other options, including Aruba.

The product has so many features. If there are maybe a hundred features, a typical organization may only need 60 or 65 at maximum. There's a wide variety of options to choose from.  

The stability is great. It's very reliable. 

You can do multiple layers with the new OS that Cisco offers. 

The new OS streamlines the Cisco offering and it's been very good. 

The solution can scale well.

Cisco moved from the 5000 series, which was a different OS, to a newer OS, right. The 9800, for example, practically improved how a wireless switch or wireless controller should work, which was not so good in terms of Cisco in the earlier versions. It's improved a lot, however, if you are using older versions, you are on a different OS, and it's not as good as it is now. 

Older versions used to be hard to deploy. The latest OS, however, has made things a lot easier. While deployment is much better, it could always be even easier. 

The interface could be improved. 

I've been using the solution for five years or so. We used it for a while, then left it, then came back to it. 

The stability is very good. I can't find any fault. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's very reliable. 

The scalability is nice. 

We have about 10,000 to 12,000 or so users on the solution right now. 

I'm not sure if we plan to increase usage. We are already 100% covered. 

Technical support from Cisco is very good. It's always been much better than its competitors in this regard. We are quite satisfied with how helpful and responsive they continue to be. There is no equivalent on the market. They simply will not let you down.

I currently also use Aruba. I also have worked with Extreme. 

There are very similar devices and have the same features for the most part. Both are stable and excellent in terms of capabilities. Cisco, however, does offer better support.

The initial setup is now pretty straightforward. Cisco came out with a new OS that streamlined everything - including the initial setup. Where Aruba used to be easier (in terms of implementation), Cisco, with its newest updates, has very much improved and they are neck and neck in terms of ease of setup.

I can get a Cisco network up and running n 30 minutes. If someone knows how a Cisco controller works, I am sure, even with the HA, that person can build one full working controller within one hour. For me, in a lab set up with a virtual machine, in a maximum of 30 minutes, I can bring it up and make a small network work. Within one hour I can do that setup.

I can handle the initial setup myself using the GUI for the controller. 

We don't really see Cisco as a solution that provides an ROI. It's more of a required service for us. 

The licensing is usually for an average of three years, depending on what we buy.

There may be some add-ons that could cost a bit more. 

While, typically, Cisco is a little bit more costly, the costs also depend on your relationship with Cisco.

I'm a customer and an end-user.

We are using versions six and eight, a mix of both.

We tend to use the on-premises deployment model as we are in healthcare and there are restrictions on what we can do with the cloud and what we cannot do with the cloud.

For those considering the solution, I'd advise them to make sure the support is good in their area or for the solution you choose and that there are knowledgeable people around so that if there are any issues, they can be addressed. 

I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

We use Cisco Wireless so that our users can have conductivity within the building.

Cisco Wireless has improved our productivity.

The most valuable features are mobility and security.

The solution could improve by having more advanced features, such as AI that is able to do diagnosis on the network or detect incorrect configurations and is able to tell you what is the recommended practice. Additionally, it would be a benefit to have smart antennas that are able to track your movement, Wi-Fi 6 support, better transfer rates, low latency, stronger signals that can penetrate thick walls, and zero packet losses.

We want a solution that can do flex connect allowing the solution to resolve the clients without depending on the controller. The controllers should only do the policy automation, or the configuration change. We don't want the controller to be in line with the data phase.

I have used Cisco Wireless within the last 12 months.

The stability of the solution has been fine for over a decade. The newer solutions will have better technology and will give us more.

The solution is scalable. We have not had any congestion issues.

We have over 5,000 users using this solution. Will would increase the usage of this solution if more users need access.

The technical support from Cisco is very good.

The installation is not difficult and took approximately two weeks.

Cisco Wireless has saved us some costs because you don't need to provision network points for every new staff. All we do is give the staff an IT work tool, such as a wireless laptop or a wireless computer, and they can be part of the network as soon as possible.

We have to pay for the hardware and support is extra and we do pay for the support.

My advice to others wanting to implement this solution is they should have very good support. You don't have to be a leader in the market. They don't have to be challengers. You don't have to be a visionary. If you have very good support clients will be happy with the product.

I rate Cisco Wireless a five out of ten.