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Cisco Wireless vs SonicWall SonicWave Access Points 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
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
154
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall SonicWave Access ...
Ranking in Wireless LAN
25th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 9.8%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SonicWave Access Points is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Wireless9.8%
SonicWall SonicWave Access Points0.9%
Other89.3%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

EvansEsezobor - PeerSpot reviewer
Group IT Head at Euracare
Has enabled centralized user management and improved wireless access point aggregation
To improve Cisco Wireless, the ports on the access points are all 100 Meg, not 1 gig. We have not gotten a gigabyte interface of about 1,000, but the controller we have is just 1 gig. We would prefer if we could increase the controller to a 10 gig interface because we want to connect our controller to a 10 gig interface, which currently limits us to 1 gig. When we want to move higher capacity data via wireless, it limits us to 1 gig.
Winsley De Oliveira - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner at ANOC
An industry-leading security and wireless solution packaged in one box
We make our customers SonicWall clients. We have a solution package: If you have a contract to network with us, we will deliver SonicWall firewalls, access points, VPN clients, and all the other equipment with the SonicWall solution. We have been selling this solution for the past 30 years. We had a customer three months ago struggling with a Fortinet solution. We convinced them that the Fortinet solution would not work perfectly during renewal. We made a bet and delivered SonicWall equipment for free for one week, and if they had no more issues, they would buy it. That's precisely what happened. The customer ended up purchasing an $80,000 SonicWall solution. The SonicWall SonicWave Access Points are a good product compared to Cisco, Sophos, and Fortinet. In Brazil, Ruckus is taking market share in some key areas, such as hotels and hospitals. They are into big solutions with thousands of access points. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Device profiling allows us to have different policies applied by ISE to wireless clients."
"The solution is very good at supporting IoT applications."
"The product’s stability is great."
"The solution is scalable."
"We are using Cisco access point 2802, and they are very reliable."
"Cisco Wireless is mostly stable with a low downrate and the signal rate is good. It is also easy to use."
"The switches can even detect cable issues which quite often can be the main cause for a call-out within my business."
"Cisco Wireless gave us the ability to deploy and seamlessly manage wireless devices at our corporate office and remote locations."
"The platform's most valuable feature is the ability to provide cloud access to configure and manage devices."
"I rate SonicWall a nine out of ten."
"Unlike the Cisco solution that needs a dedicated wireless controller outside of a firewall, SonicWall has everything in one box. Fortinet is close to it."
"A good management tool that can be managed through the cloud or firewall."
"The security features of SonicWall are highly valued."
 

Cons

"The biggest reason why we could no longer continue with Cisco Wireless was because of the high cost to upgrade everything. It was disappointing that Cisco treated us as just another big company, and did not offer any leeway on their pricing given that we are an educational institute. And although the system we had in place from Cisco Wireless was good enough over the last ten years, it started to show its age when pushed to its limit during the pandemic."
"The main problem that traditional solutions like this one have is that you need to buy packages to deliver a similar solution as a Meraki one."
"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."
"Improvements can be made to the telemetry. The licensing gets in the way here. It makes it impossible to record the different flows across the wireless network."
"Sometimes I've seen some issues come up with the interference. That's an issue users face at times. It becomes very complex when you have a lot of wireless interference in the area, or in your office. It's because of the environment of Cisco. Maybe, in the future, they can work on this area, and fix this issue."
"There are performance issues, particularly with video calls where throughput is not great."
"And from an administration point of view, it is a very tedious job to check on each and every control. We have around 30 or 40 controls in our network."
"Apple is definitely causing a lot of issues by turning on more security features on its equipment. It is causing more problems on the business side. One is what they call a randomized Mac address that Apple has put out. As far as I know, Cisco doesn't have a fix for that."
"The product's pricing is high and could be improved."
"The main issue is the management of the access points. They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration."
"We have a lot of overlapping wireless networks with a lot of cheap equipment that does not run on any rules or regulations. The best way to improve the wireless network, like in SonicWaves, is to defeat these networks by isolating, preventing them, or overcoming their wireless signal. We try to do that, but I live near an airport, and the AirPortRadar glitches my wireless network every nine seconds."
"Integrating with the firewall and management console was a little complex."
"They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the tool's pricing a ten out of ten. It is expensive compared to Aruba and Juniper."
"The solution does not come with a licensing fee."
"The price for this product is a little bit high, which is why I am not using the most recent version."
"Its cost is a little bit higher than other products. Fortinet and Huawei are cheaper. If we were not a bank, I would go for Huawei or Fortinet because they are cheap, and I don't need that much security. A financial institute, a university, or a medical institute would need security to protect the customer data. That's why we buy this high-end product that has integrated security features."
"I rate the tool's pricing a nine out of ten."
"It is expensive, and there are some costs in addition to the standard licensing fee. Its licensing model and cost should be improved."
"The product is expensive."
"The license structure is confusing."
"The pricing of the SonicWave Access Points solution is different in the US and Brazil. In the US, the solution is priced more competitively than other vendors. In Brazil, the exchange rate is a problem. To address this, SonicWall managers in Brazil are running several sales promotions and improving the price of new units."
"The platform offers yearly licenses."
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Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
President at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
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
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business77
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise74
No data available
 

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 do you like most about SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?
The platform's most valuable feature is the ability to provide cloud access to configure and manage devices.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?
The platform offers yearly licenses. We receive all the support services through our partners. Thus, there are no extra costs involved. However, some partners might charge for deployment services.
What needs improvement with SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?
The main issue is the management of the access points. They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration.
 

Also Known As

Cisco WLAN Controller
SonicWave 200 Series, SonicWave 200 Series Access Points, SonicWave 400 Series, SonicWave 400 Series Access Points
 

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. Dominic's School for Girls
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless vs. SonicWall SonicWave Access Points and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.