Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar vs Cisco Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 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

Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess S...
Ranking in Wireless LAN
19th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
154
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar is 0.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 11.0%, down from 13.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Wireless11.0%
Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar0.9%
Other88.1%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Attila Gyalus - PeerSpot reviewer
An Easily Deployable and User-Friendly Solution with Rapid Installation
The support of this solution is great. The timeliness of their responses is crucial for me. When I raise an issue, I can count on receiving a prompt reply, eliminating the need for extensive online searches or phone calls. This efficiency is paramount in saving time. In the rare instances where problems arise, they are usually swiftly addressed.
EvansEsezobor - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We are very satisfied with the performance."
"One feature that differentiates Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar from some other vendors is the fact that on-premise OmniVista licenses are perpetual."
"The features aren't much different than those in Aruba, but deployment is easier to configure and the pricing is better."
"There is a definite ROI with this product. This product creates a baseline of technology that will be a means to grow from five to ten years from now. By using this solution, it is an investment on the installation of that baseline."
"Express in default configuration mode with first turn-on is easy to set up and deploy from a medium installation standpoint."
"I have not seen any downtime in the tool."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"I have worked with different solutions in the past and switched to Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar because of its quick installation time. It requires no additional preparation. The product is highly stable. I rate it a nine out of ten. The support of this solution is great. The timeliness of their responses is crucial for me. When I raise an issue, I can count on receiving a prompt reply, eliminating the need for extensive online searches or phone calls."
"It is a very stable solution."
"Our environment has many devices constantly moving within our environment—approximately 3,000 devices daily, many of which change locations every 45 minutes. Therefore, the tool's seamless handoff is valuable for us. It's one of the reasons we have stayed with the product."
"Compared to other solutions, captive guest network is one of the best isolation and tunneling."
"Cisco Wireless improves mobility and flexibility. The only case we are working on is with hospitals, focusing on the mobility of doctors within the hospital. Everywhere, doctors need to be connected to the network, even within the operating theater, patient rooms, and even the basement, like the radiology department. As far as the solution goes, the coverage is usually very comprehensive."
"The most valuable features for network security with Cisco Wireless were the policy enforcement capabilities."
"For me, there are two important features: 1) WLAN grouping – Allows us to have different groups and, within those groups, specific WLANs, so there is no overlapping. 2) FlexConnect – Enables us to have remote offices at different locations. We can have a central WLC to control all the locations."
"It is a reliable and robust solution. Access and Mobility Groups are useful. We don't use anything very fancy."
"The initial setup is easy. It's fairly quick to deploy."
 

Cons

"There are occasional OS bugs."
"It is not possible to integrate Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar with third-party software like Opera, a property management system (PMS)."
"It needs to be faster in order to process and transmit bigger packets."
"Better integration with third-party systems is what our customers are expecting in the future."
"I would prefer to have the integrated heat map feature provided by the basic controller in the Solution instead of purchasing an external one. Accessing this capability directly within the controller's access point would be convenient."
"The current implementation of our Guest Access network in isolation for Express mode is very complicated in comparison with leading market solutions."
"Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar's radio management side could be improved."
"If the customers plan to go on the cloud side, they need encryption and daily communications from a security perspective."
"The solution's pricing should be improved."
"There's a delay in equipment that comes to Columbia, to our country, and that lasts almost six months."
"Older versions are complex to configure and implement."
"There is a problem with the controller. When we have to restart the controller, it does not show the time. We have to manually configure the time when we restart it. I have read about this issue, to get some information, and all answers are about having to connect it with a time server, which is very difficult."
"Most definitely the cost."
"The bind configuration between a physical port and an IP address is missing."
"There are some features I would like to have in Cisco Wireless, such as Telemetry and other IoT. However, they are available in the new version of the solution."
"The GUI could be made more user-friendly. There should also be a dashboard where it can showcase how many end-users are connected to a particular access point."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's pricey, but better than similar solutions."
"The tool is cost-effective, according to our sales team's feedback."
"The price of this product is average and it is a one-time, perpetual license."
"We find the price comparable to other products on the market."
"The price is in the range of other brands like Cisco, maybe a little cheaper but you get the same features, facilities, and security. Licensing is something Alcatel is making changes to. A few years ago you would buy a WLAN solution from Alcatel for half the price of Cisco, but you would spend the same amount on licensing. Today this is different and the licensing is cheaper."
"At times, it appears that the solution's pricing is slightly higher. This makes it challenging to persuade customers who primarily focus on the price."
"Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar is a mid-range solution with respect to pricing."
"The price for this product is a little bit high, which is why I am not using the most recent version."
"It is expensive, and there are some costs in addition to the standard licensing fee. Its licensing model and cost should be improved."
"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."
"The pricing is high. It could be cheaper."
"There is a need to renew the licenses for Cisco Wireless every three years. My company needs to pay around 25 percent of the budget meant for the tools we purchase towards the price of Cisco Wireless."
"The price of Cisco Wireless equipment is expensive."
"As far as I know Cisco is very competitive, price-wise. Talk to your third-party vendor. It all depends on the company size - how many employees, how big the building is. If it's wireless, and you have only 50 employees but you're using a large building floor, in that case you need many access points. But if you have 50 employees using two or three rooms, then you probably don't need it and it's going to be high density, so there is a different design. So you need to talk to a subject matter expert. Talk to them and design accordingly."
"The license structure is confusing."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless LAN solutions are best for your needs.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Educational Organization
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business76
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise74
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar?
The solution allows you to see the SNMP packets, the DPI packets, and the SNMP server.
What needs improvement with Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar?
Most customers are asking for an on-premises hardware architecture while it is available as a software-based architecture.
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...
 

Also Known As

Alcatel Lucent OmniAccess Stellar, OmniAccess Stellar
Cisco WLAN Controller
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mineola School District
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)
Find out what your peers are saying about Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess Stellar vs. Cisco Wireless and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.