Cisco Wireless WAN Reviews

The most valuable features are CleanAir, Rogue Detection, and the auto-calculation of RF.

There are a number of areas for improvement in Cisco Wireless WAN, including sensitive applications which face issues on wireless stuff and difficulty troubleshooting. In the next release, Cisco should include more troubleshooting features, especially for sensitive applications like Teams and other voice and video applications. There should be easy ways to analyze the wireless network to find where the problem is. 

I've been using this solution for eight years.

Wireless networks are never stable because they're always impacted by multiple reasons.

Cisco Wireless WAN is scalable.

Cisco's technical support is good - you get instant support, and most of the engineers are good and highly skilled (though not all, so some cases can take longer).

The initial setup is simple for enterprise users, but it's very complex for DYOD and guest networks.

Cisco's pricing is reasonable.

Cisco Wireless WAN is most suitable for enterprise companies. Before choosing this solution, remember that there are other good solutions, including Aruba and Ruckus, so you should explore which solution is best for your organization. I would give Cisco Wireless WAN a rating of eight out of ten.

We use Cisco Wireless WAN 9115s and 9130s. Two are controllers, and the rest, subordinates.

Cisco wireless is stable, easy to use, and simple to configure. They have an outstanding GUI.

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. It's not an issue. It's completely logical.

Cisco support is fantastic. They're knowledgeable and responsive.

Setting up Cisco Wireless is extremely easy. I'm doing one right now, and it usually takes between 15 and 20 minutes.

I rate Cisco Wireless WAN nine out of 10. You need to read the documentation carefully when implementing it because you have to go through a step-by-step configuration. Upgrading can be done in two ways: HTTP from the desktop or TFTP. HTTP is extremely easy. You connect with a console cable and do it.

We just basically use it for wireless throughout our office space.

We never had any issues with it. I can't really say that I had any issues or didn't like the product.

It just gives you the ability to use it around the office without being tied up to an actual physical connection.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. 

I've found the solution to be very reliable. 

The solution can scale. 

Technical support is helpful.

The pricing is pretty reasonable. 

I cannot recall any areas of improvement. 

A lot of the time, for users, it comes down to pricing. Many would like to see it be a bit less costly. 

I've had zero issues with the stability of the product. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. 

It is scalable.

Cisco offers very responsive technical support. They are helpful. 

The product's initial setup is pretty straightforward. It's one of the things that you set up, and you don't really touch after. You set it up, and basically, you don't worry about it.

We but the equipment. There is no monthly or annual licensing. 

The pricing is okay. They offer pretty competitive pricing. 

We're currently a Cisco shop, and we were thinking about possibly looking into different firewall vendors next year to get an opinion on the different technologies on their next-generation firewalls, just to see what made the most sense as far as comparing different vendors.

We looked at one point, at Fortinet. It is a good platform. I would definitely try to switch to Fortinet if I can. The whole platform pricing standpoint from Fortinet is good. It's a possibility that on our end, we might be switching over to them. Apples to apples, Cisco and Fortinet are very similar and both are quite good. 

I'm a customer and end-user. 

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten. I've never had any issues with the product. 

The solution is used to manage our access points in all our company branches.

I like Cisco due to the fact that it's reliable. It has worked well since 2008 without issues.

It's scalable.

The initial setup is straightforward. 

Azure needs work. We use it as the wireless controller of Cisco. It's a bit buggy. The UI needs to be more responsive. 

Technical support could be more helpful.

The solution is expensive. 

I've been using the solution since 2008.

The solution is stable and reliable and offers good performance. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

It is very scalable. It's easy to expand.

We have about 3,000 employees that use the solution.

The setup is in an airport, and we have passengers that also need the portal for the internet. We have a lot of people using the solution.

Technical support could be improved. They are helpful. However, they could be better.

Positive

We did not previously use a different solution. 

The solution is very easy. It's straightforward and not difficult at all. 

The deployment only takes a few hours. It's not a long process. 

We have about five people that can handle any maintenance tasks. That includes maybe one engineer and four administrators. 

We handled the deployment ourselves. We didn't need the assistance of a third party.

We pay a yearly licensing fee, and it is expensive. I'm not sure of the exact amount we pay.

I'm currently looking into Aruba. 

We have a lot of equipment from Cisco. We are customers and end-users. 

I'm not on the latest version of the solution. That said, I'm renovating my wireless environment.

I'd recommend the solution to others. It is good. However, it costs a lot. I'm currently looking for something more cost-effective. 

I would rate the solution eight out of ten. There is no master controller for the controllers. When we have access points in different buildings, I need a centralized management system to achieve redundancy and operations simplicity. 

We have around nearly 150 access points. We use Cisco access points for our business core systems for the employees. All the users connect through this wirelessly.

Stability is one aspect that I find very valuable. The signal strength is also very strong.

The connectivity is reliable, and it doesn't have many issues.

The console interface is not very user-friendly. It's a bit complex and difficult to navigate. Even some integrations can be challenging. But we can manage eventually.

Therefore, for me, some areas of improvement include integration, pricing, and console. 

Scalability is easy, it is stable, and configuring certain things like Mac filtering is also simple. However, I feel the need to enhance the security aspect, especially for guest connectivity.

I've been using it for around five years.

Stability is really good in Cisco Wireless WAN. I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

There are no restrictions on scalability. It is a scalable product. We have 150 access points, and there are 350 employees.

The support is good. They have a vendor here currently, and their support is good.

Neutral

The initial setup is not difficult. It's easy because we have been using Cisco for a long time.

Moreover, very little maintenance is required. We just perform some checks and minor tasks. There isn't much maintenance required.

It is a bit expensive compared to others. So it's a little costly.

For us, this is an all-in-one product. It doesn't have separate licenses. When purchased, the product comes with a license. It's a one-time purchase.

We were migrating from the on-prem to the cloud version. We made a comparison analysis b/w different technologies.

Cisco wireless on-prem has moved to Cisco Meraki Access, and Cisco Meraki is the better. We can use the cloud solution. The only thing is the price is a little high. Other than that, all the features and security aspects are really good with Cisco.

Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. The overall rating is seven due to the higher price and the need for enhancements in the console and security features. The guest Wi-Fi and non-console options are lacking in the older version, although I believe the new version might address that.

Our primary use for the solution is providing internet access points for our customers, we are a Wi-Fi management service.

The network management is good. We use it to control access, channels, and phones and limit bandwidth.

They can provide more user-friendly control. It would be good to see an easier to manage common control line. An improved web UI could allow everything to be controlled from the website. 

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.

I've been using the solution for over five years. 

The solution is very stable. 

We have an access point that provides service for 20 to 25,000 customers, and we use ten staff for deployment and maintenance. 

We have local Cisco-authorized support here in Indonesia, and I would rate them an eight out of ten. 

Positive

We found the initial setup to be complex, sometimes we have difficulty providing wireless internet access, as it can be difficult to choose an access point that can handle a high density of users. 

We can complete a setup in one or two days for a building, but sometimes we have to implement an outdoor access point, which can take longer.  

I would rate the solution four out of five in terms of ROI.

I don't know the exact cost as I'm only on the technical side, but I do know this solution is very expensive. With one being the most expensive and five being affordable, I would give Cisco a two out of five. 

We have to pay for upgrades and for customer service. 

I rate this solution an eight out of ten. 

Cisco provides a good product, the stability and reliability are there but it's very expensive. Competitors deliver solutions that are more affordable and almost as good. 

Most of my customers are demanding a wireless connectivity that seamless and  great mobility for their users. Because modern workplace now requires great collaboration and great collaboration comes from great mobility.

Cisco Wireless LAN has improved a lot of my customers organization. The best part of using wireless solution is the mobility, where my customers can work together like anywhere and anytime. They way they are working also changing after using wireless solution.

Cisco Wireless Solution comes with WiFi 6 capability that provide higher bandwidth and less usage of battery for endpoint. The visibility on the solution also comes in place when it is integrated with Cisco DNA Center. Day 2 operation is much easier because the solution provide wider visibility and analytics.

Apart from the features and benefits that Cisco Wireless LAN Solution has been given, some areas are still need to be improved. For example on part of onboarding the AP. For customer who has old version WLC (AireOS version) and want to migrate their AP to new WLC (IOS XE version) sometime requires extra effort because of DTLS certificate issue or no valid ap manager. 

Working on Cisco Gold Partner as Systems Engineer give me more than 6 years already in delivering Cisco Wireless LAN Solution. From the era of Aironet untill now becoming era of Catalyst Wireless.

Cisco Wireless LAN Solution is stable if you choose the recommended version of firmware.

Cisco Wireless LAN scalability is good. The smallest of WLC can handle up to 250 APs and the highest WLC can handle up to 6000 APs.

Cisco TAC is helpful when assisting us during troubleshooting the issue, one thing that can be improved also from Cisco Wireless Solution is to auto capture the logs and everything that need to be analyzed during troubleshooting for particular user since troubleshooting wireless need to analyze on live session.

Positive

The initial setup is less complex than it used to be and has definitely improved. There's still a way to go. Depending on the customer, deployment can take from two weeks to three months.

We implement the solutions with our implementation team.

Licensing on Cisco Wireless Solution comes in 3 types of subscriptions, DNA Essential, DNA Advantage and DNA Premier. Those 3 types licensing actually has a component which perpetual based. But at first time of buying the solution, Cisco enforced the customers to buy initial license that come with minimum of 3 years subscriptions. After 3 years passed, customer can still use the network even the license is not being renewed because there is a part on the license that perpetual. Digging deeper on to the part of subscriptions license, actually most of the features are can only use if the customer has DNA Center. So if the customer doesn't have DNA Center then mostly those features is unable to use.

Cisco Wireless LAN solutions is good enough to deliver the wireless experience for my customers, but sometimes we need to adjust or tune the configuration before get the best experience. Since Cisco is already has AI capability, I hope that in the future, the configuration will be adjusted with the baseline of customer environment. Suppose that there is learning curve process for 1 week, after that the solution will provide a report that configuration need to be fixed according to the customer environment and according to Cisco Best Practice. This report need to be evaluated by IT Admin and if it is approved, then schedule a downtime in the out of office hour for implementing the configuration.

We primarily use the solution for wireless access. It allows, for example, mobile users, to connect.

The solution has been very stable so far and the performance overall is quite good.

We have found that the product scales well.

The solution is easy to implement.

The solution could lower its pricing to make it more affordable. Cisco is expensive in general.

We've been using the solution for three years at this point. We've used the product for a while. 

The solution is stable. It offers very good performance. The reliability is excellent in that it doesn't crash or freeze and there are no bugs or glitches to deal with. 

The solution is scalable. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.

We have around 1,000 users on the solution currently.

We've never had the need to contact technical support from Cisco. It's been issue-free. therefore, I can't speak to helpful or responsive they would be.

I did not switch from a different solution. We've always used Cisco.

We had no issues setting up the solution. the implementation is easy and pretty straightforward. I wouldn't describe it as complex or difficult. Configuring and installation were issue-free. It doesn't take too much time.

You only need two technical people to set up and manage the product. It's not maintenance-intensive. 

The installation was pretty fast. We didn't need any help from integrators or consultants.

This is a rather expensive product.

We pay a yearly fee for the license and support services. 

We are using the latest version of the solution at this time. 

I would rate the solution a ten out of ten.