No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Wireless WAN vs Fortinet FortiExtender comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiExtender
Ranking in Wireless WAN
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless WAN is 10.4%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiExtender is 8.2%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Wireless WAN10.4%
Fortinet FortiExtender8.2%
Other81.4%
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

BS
Network Security at Tech Mahindra Limited
Support teams have simplified deployment while the interface provides accessible configuration options
Based on my experience, I would generally recommend Cisco Wireless WAN to others. At present, our company is using Cisco WAN only. Based on that company, their budget and other factors will be involved in the decision. For metrics to evaluate the efficiency of Cisco Wireless WAN, I refer to the Cisco website or sometimes YouTube to get the details through videos. Overall, I am giving Cisco Wireless WAN an eight rating out of ten. Any Cisco product is most useful and is being majorly used in the network. I would like to see features in Cisco Wireless WAN that involve a GUI. Cisco also uses GUI mostly to configure or create any wireless SSIDs or any other things, which is fine now. I am providing this review with an overall rating of eight out of ten for Cisco Wireless WAN.
SyedQuadri - PeerSpot reviewer
IT director at Sajaya Medical Care Services
Has supported multi-branch connectivity effectively and still has potential for deeper feature utilization
Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have. I have used Sophos Central as a manager and Fortinet manager as well. I believe Fortinet Manager has more in-depth features compared to Sophos or some other manager. The threat intelligence integration in Fortinet FortiExtender helps me to meet my industry's compliance standards. Fortinet FortiExtender brought many benefits to my organization. It was a very useful solution for us to have such a service.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Cisco's performance is much better."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Wireless WAN are its security functionality. We have a lab environment and we have to provide different authentications to the users which are easy to manage. Additionally, there is a lot of useful automation embedded into the system."
"If budget weren't an issue, I would highly recommend Cisco."
"It definitely makes our network and life much easier when using these features."
"This stability is one of the major reasons to stick with this product."
"We use a lot of Cisco products and it makes it easy for us to position this wireless solution for most of our clients because they already have a Cisco base."
"Cisco Wireless WAN's best feature is the integration with other Cisco products."
"We trust Cisco."
"The overall stability deserves a perfect rating."
"The integration is easy and it works as a normal internet connection."
"Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have."
"The solution is extremely user-friendly."
"The initial setup was was just beautiful. It was straightforward."
"Management can be carried out from a central point."
"The product is easy to use and easy to integrate."
"Having the FortiExtender as a part of an SD-WAN topology is a major competitive value."
 

Cons

"The initial setup and deployment should be easier."
"It is expensive."
"The cost is one of the higher in the industry."
"There are limitations on the SSIDs that could improve. We cannot enable two ways of authenticating users on one SSID. For a number of places, we have to provide different modes of certification for the user which requires us to create another SSID for the broadcast."
"You cannot go to different versions or different access points. 9115s cannot interact with 9120s, and 9130s can interact with 9115s. You can add or remove as many subordinates as you want."
"In terms of improvement, there is always something that could be enhanced. For example, we can't change wireless channels in Cisco Meraki due to a recent standard update."
"There is no centralized management for multiple wireless control deployments or a user tracking feature."
"I hope Cisco can improve the capacity to service a high density of users in a small area, as currently we have difficulties with this."
"The support could be faster and more responsive."
"They could improve the remote console server feature and make it more user-friendly for more users."
"The Fortinet FortiExtender should be more suitable for outdoor use. Currently, the vehicle model can be used outdoors, but there are no dedicated outdoor devices."
"The solution would be a lot better if it was a little bit more intuitive. Additionally, the help menu would be a lot better if it was easier to identify the items that I was looking for. I find the graphical interface a little bit difficult to navigate. And I find the font that is used on the HTML interface not conducive to being able to be read in low light situations."
"The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement."
"I would like to see them make it smaller in the next release so that it has a smaller footprint for mobile clients."
"There is a huge downside because we need to remove and insert the SIM to get it working."
"We would like to see some improvement in the price for 5G models, as they are currently very expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay the licensing fees on a yearly basis."
"It is very expensive."
"I rate the product price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"The solution is not expensive."
"The price is too high. The licensing is on a yearly basis."
"It is a bit expensive compared to others."
"Cisco's pricing is quite costly and should be cheaper for both licensing and hardware."
"There is a license that is needed for the use of this solution."
"I've only used the open-source version of Fortinet FortiExtender, but I know that it has some features that require you to pay for a license."
"I'm not sure what the cost is. However, I anticipate that the purchase price will range between $2,500 and $5,000."
"The solution is not that expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless WAN solutions are best for your needs.
920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
17%
Construction Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
17%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Wireless WAN?
I think the pricing of Cisco Wireless WAN must be reasonable at present.
What needs improvement with Cisco Wireless WAN?
Cisco Wireless WAN's interface could be simplified in the future. Simplification would make it more helpful to see how the user is connecting. We are able to see the connectivity details, and we al...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Wireless WAN?
We are still working with Cisco products, and I am supporting the Cisco devices. We are working with Cisco switches, routers, and we have guest Wi-Fi now. Regarding Cisco Wireless WAN, I am not tha...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiExtender?
The price for Fortinet FortiExtender deserves the highest rating.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiExtender?
In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiExtender?
Since I was having FortiManager and everything, Fortinet FortiExtender was suggested by the vendor. I went through it and appreciated the product. There are plenty of things we are using Fortinet F...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Brunel University London, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Chartwell School, Children's Hospital Colorado, Cisco Live Milan, City of Biel, City of Mississauga, Dundee Precious Metals, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Erickson Living, Goldcorp, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS)
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless WAN vs. Fortinet FortiExtender and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.