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Cisco Wireless WAN vs Fortinet FortiExtender comparison

 

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
7th
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 February 2026, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless WAN is 7.9%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiExtender is 6.7%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Wireless WAN7.9%
Fortinet FortiExtender6.7%
Other85.4%
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

HassanBilal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT Infrastructure & Helpdesk at LCI Pakistan
Solution supports extensive connectivity but faces occasional coverage challenges
Cisco Wireless WAN has room for improvement in WiFi coverage. Sometimes, their coverage is normally good, but at the same area where the access points are deployed, people face continuous disconnectivity issues. These kinds of issues come over time, and we need to do troubleshooting, but they get resolved. This is a performance-related issue, and I think they have to work on that.
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

"The program is very stable."
"The most valuable features are coverage and reliability."
"Coverage for the access points is really good."
"It's a small feature, but Cisco allows me to see access points with blinking lights. This shows me which access point is which."
"Recently, the most valuable and in-demand feature that users are enjoying is WiFi 6 support on the access points. The other good thing about Cisco Wireless LAN is how easily it provides clean access to the WiFi network."
"Cisco Wireless WAN's best features are simple management, the cloud base, dashboards, and reliability."
"The most valuable features for me are the ease of operation and scalability."
"The most valuable features include checking logs and performing site surveys. These capabilities ensure that we can cover almost every location in the building and troubleshoot any errors we encounter."
"The integration is easy and it works as a normal internet connection."
"We appreciate that this solution can be used as an active secondary link as well as a backup."
"The overall stability deserves a perfect rating."
"The solution is extremely user-friendly."
"Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have."
"The most valuable feature will be that it works."
"For me, the best feature of Fortinet FortiExtender is its integration with an external solution such as a 5G LTE broadband modem, wired modem, and cellular network. I also like that the product can be integrated into one device or a unified device, and that is one of its best features because it allows you to manage and centralize the control of every device."
"The initial setup was was just beautiful. It was straightforward."
 

Cons

"The price has room for improvement."
"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."
"The product could be improved by making installing the operating system on access points easier."
"The solution could be more stable."
"The pricing of the solution could always be better."
"The prices are high and should be reduced in order to be more competitive."
"The support of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"There needs to be an adjustment in subscription licenses and their pricing."
"They could improve the remote console server feature and make it more user-friendly for more users."
"We would like to see some improvement in the price for 5G models, as they are currently very expensive."
"What most of my clients are telling me is the price is a problem."
"There is a huge downside because we need to remove and insert the SIM to get it working."
"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."
"Though Fortinet FortiExtender has some security features, the product could still be improved by adding features similar to those in FortiGuard, such as antivirus, intrusion, prevention, and detection, as well as web filtering features. The product is also not as user-friendly, so that's another area for improvement. In the FortiGate UTM solution of Fortinet, there's software-defined or SD-WAN, and in the next release of Fortinet FortiExtender, I'd like to see SD-WAN embedded in the product. Most of the communication in Fortinet FortiExtender is related to WAN and Edge, so having an SD-WAN function in the product would be useful for integrating and controlling WAN communication."
"The support could be faster and more responsive."
"I would like to see them make it smaller in the next release so that it has a smaller footprint for mobile clients."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a bit expensive compared to others."
"The total cost of the solution was about $6,000."
"The price is too high. The licensing is on a yearly basis."
"The price could be better, but it's been okay. You must pay license fees for each access point connected to the controller."
"The license is not subscription-based."
"It is very expensive."
"Cisco's pricing is reasonable."
"On the low end, the solution costs probably around $1200 to $1300 for five years. It's an expensive product."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
24%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Media Company
14%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise36
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Wireless WAN?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
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 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: February 2026.
881,928 professionals have used our research since 2012.