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Cisco Wireless vs ExtremeWireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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
Ranking in Wireless LAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
153
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ExtremeWireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 11.4%, down from 14.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeWireless is 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

GulfrazAhmad - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates with ISE, and is secure, reliable, and easy to deploy
The main concern is the length and overlapping. We have to put on four to six access points on the same floor, and we face the issue of overlapping areas. If Cisco can extend the range of their indoor APs, we would need to install just one or two access points, and it would eliminate the problem of the overlapping area. They should provide built-in features for safe authentication. Right now, we integrate with ISE and FortiClient for this feature. We first check the NAC, and after the NAC and before the domain, a token password installed on their mobile or a physical token is required to join the network. If Cisco had built-in authentication, we would be able to eliminate one product from our network.
Seungho Yang - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced employee access with effective wireless monitoring and seamless roaming
Our use case for ExtremeWireless is to allow our employees to access the company systems The monitoring systems in ExtremeWireless have been very effective, and they are cheaper than other products. It provides better monitoring logs and detailed logs compared to Cisco Wireless. The most…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco's technical support is very good, I've never had an issue with their technical support."
"It can provide support for real-time applications, such as VoIP and Video Conferencing over wireless infrastructure."
"The stability of the solution is good."
"There are a lot of valuable features and functions. One example is CleanAir to detect and troubleshoot interference issues. Another is RX-SOP to optimize roaming."
"It helps with the visibility on our network."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is reliability."
"This product has a long life and you don't have any issues with it."
"It's very easy to configure the access points."
"ExtremeWireless is known for its strong security engine, Air Defense, which provides necessary wireless security assistance to many of my customers."
"Extreme access points perform very well in high-density environments, and we use them at sites with our customers."
"The security is very good."
"ExtremeWireless is a powerful solution with good integration. It works perfectly for us."
"The wireless security solution is the most valuable feature of ExtremeWireless."
"It's cloud-based and very easy to deploy."
"In terms of the most valuable features, I like the integration with the fabric. The network fabric completely integrates with wireless as well."
"ExtremeWireless offers profiles, policies, and tags."
 

Cons

"Improvement needed in RRM, ATF, Ortho-Polarization, AP concurrent client processing."
"The solution's pricing should be improved."
"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."
"I would like to see less dependency on other products such as ISE and Prime for certain implementations."
"The classic Cisco wireless interface is difficult for users to learn."
"The product’s interface must be improved."
"Their software's really clunky."
"Controllers could be improved."
"There is some delay in firmware upgrades for access points. When there is a problem with the firmware of one access point, the correction might be too late."
"The performance of the access points could be improved."
"The solution should offer better support."
"In the next release, I would like to see more security features."
"Wireless products, in general, have room for improvement compared to wired ones, which are more stable."
"The solution needs to improve its portfolio."
"The onsite controllers are not as good as the cloud controller. I would also like ExtremeWireless to add web filtering on the access point. This feature is available from other vendors but not ExtremeWireless."
"I experienced issues during firmware upgrades, as some devices required a physical restart, which affects system stability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Cisco Wireless is expensive and there is an additional cost for support."
"Its licensing is not simple. There are additional license costs for features, which is frustrating for us. There are some features that are included for free in the base Aruba product, but they are available at additional costs in this solution."
"There is no license required to use Cisco Wireless solutions."
"The pricing is high. It could be cheaper."
"The price of this product is reasonable."
"I rate the tool's pricing a seven out of ten."
"Pricing is a little higher for Cisco Wireless than all other vendors. Cisco should work on improving the pricing because there are some other vendors out there in the market which may have the same features or equivalent features that Cisco has at a lesser price."
"The price of Cisco Wireless could be adjusted down, it is a bit expensive. The solution is worth it for the name and the brand. However, there are more products now in the market that give you the same quality, but at a cheaper price."
"We pay approximately $30,000 per year."
"It's not as expensive as some and is scalable to our needs."
"The solution is priced well and we currently are only paying for a license for maintenance."
"The solution has a yearly subscription, and we have to pay additional costs for technical support."
"ExtremeWireless is subscription-based for both cloud and on-prem solutions, and it's quite expensive."
"The price of the solution overall is expensive. Additionally, the controller and license are expensive. We pay for an annual subscription."
"Extreme isn't the most expensive, but it's not a low-cost solution, and because there are no big volumes, you don't receive significant discounts, making the final price higher."
"Our access points device is at its end of life. I can buy one more and then I must buy a new device, but if it is a new device it will not support the old virtual appliance. I would need to upgrade our virtual appliance to the next version or build a new virtual appliance with new devices, and it's not good for us. The overall licensing subscription could be better."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless LAN solutions are best for your needs.
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Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 24, 2015
Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions
Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
University
6%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
10%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...
Which is better - Ruckus Wireless or Cisco Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and ma...
How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?
On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three hours, the basic framework can be set up. Step-by-step instructions are availabl...
What needs improvement with ExtremeWireless?
There is some delay in firmware upgrades for access points. When there is a problem with the firmware of one access point, the correction might be too late.
What is your primary use case for ExtremeWireless?
We work with some end customers, and we use ExtremeCloud IQ ( /products/extremecloud-iq-reviews ) for the administration of the wireless platform. We use Wi-Fi 6 E for many users.
 

Also Known As

Cisco WLAN Controller
No data available
 

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)
St. Xavier High School, Americatel, Diamond Light Source
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless vs. ExtremeWireless and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
852,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.