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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs D-Link Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 8, 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 Meraki Wireless LAN
Ranking in Wireless LAN
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
D-Link Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is 13.1%, up from 12.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of D-Link Wireless is 2.4%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Mageshwaran S - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables organizations to control many sites globally with a lean IT team and provides visibility into the user activities
The solution can handle only medium and small businesses. We face a bottleneck on the gateway while using the solution for large enterprises. The solution must be able to expand to larger enterprises. Currently, the MX device can support only up to 10,000 users. It would be good if it can go beyond 1 lakh users. Catalyst 9300 is coming on the Meraki Dashboard. The vendor must also bring in the 9400 and 9600 Catalyst series. It will be very helpful. We will not have any choke on the gateway. There is no active-active concept. It will be very helpful if the solution provides active-active. Now, we are doing an active-passive setup, which is a warm spare. If it is an active-active setup, the gateway bottleneck issue can be resolved. I would be able to segment the Wireless LAN IPs. It will help support 20,000 devices at a go. Meraki does not have a single dashboard. I need to port an on-premise controller. There is a bottleneck while scaling the product. I need to consider a lot of things.
Sivakumar V - PeerSpot reviewer
A tool that offers a good performance at a good price
Over a period of time, the technologies change, and users may not get the proper things. In general, there is a need to keep changing devices after a period of five years, especially considering that I operate in a university where we don't have closed offices, while the devices' performance level goes down in open spaces. Though in our institution, we tried to make some changes to the product, we know that nothing much is going to change. In our institution, we plan to have indoor and room-based APs, but even then, some of the rooms don't come in a dust-free environment, so there is a need for us to experiment with the product as the degrading of the devices and signals still keeps happening. In our institution, we are making some changes to adopt to an indoor-based system. For certain setups, D-Link Wireless works better and ensures that users get value for their money. If you know how to maintain a technology, then it can help you. I rate the overall tool an eight to nine 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

"We can deploy it and check in on our customers without having an on-site connection or an on-site infrastructure for elderly customers."
"The most valuable thing to me is the stability of the product."
"The primary value lies in the ease of configuration; these products seamlessly integrate, and work well together."
"The most valuable feature is that the solution is friendly to manage."
"The most valuable aspect of this solution is the single pane of glass management and reliability."
"The solution is easy to install."
"The single dashboard of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is the most valuable feature for me."
"I like the status page Cisco added that shows you the health of the wireless connection."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"D-Link is a good product that is quite affordable and I recommend it."
"The solution is extremely easy to install. You just add them and in a few clicks, they are ready to go."
"It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The system simplifies network management."
"The connectivity is good."
"I like the product's signal continuity and range. We can receive the signal up to 20-30 meters from the wireless antenna."
"It's scalable, user friendly, and easy to manage."
 

Cons

"The dashboard could be a bit better. I'd like to see more information about the whole controller and APs. It should be as simple and convenient."
"The solution cannot be looked upon for one year or short term because you will pay back all the discounts they offer the next time you pay for renewal."
"It is super expensive for what you get. I just wish it was less expensive."
"The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks."
"I'd like better integration with security providers."
"The Meraki platform needs better on-premises management options."
"The commercial version of the solution could be cheaper."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"The solution's performance could be improved."
"It would definitely help if we had more advanced features for distributing bandwidth."
"The solution doesn't have hotspots. Users can't set it up so that visitors can log in via Facebook or social media as they can at, for example, airports. D-Link should include hotspots that offer integration with social media. That way, visitors don't need to be asking people for passwords. They can just use Facebook."
"Password restriction: Sometimes we set a password and it uses that password but, after some days/months, the password gets changed and a few laptops still use old the password while a few use the new password. The password restriction option needs to improve."
"The only issue is with the controller visibility of the devices connecting to the network."
"In future, it would also be good to have a switch within D Link that works as well as the Cisco 9200 Switch."
"Sometimes, the solution needs to be restarted."
"D-Link Wireless’s stability needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is slightly more expensive than others, such as Ruckus Wi-Fi."
"The platform is more expensive than other solutions."
"The price is good, but it could be improved."
"Pricing could be better."
"Higher subscription fee may be necessary if extra features are required."
"The price of Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN could be improved, it is too expensive. We pay for the solution on an annual basis."
"The tool is reasonably priced."
"We do a three-year or five-year license and support. Its price could be better, but overall, we get competitive prices. A lot of times, Cisco puts itself out of range, especially with Meraki. I've dealt with a lot of business development from Cisco, and they have always been accommodating, especially in dealing with hospitals or government. There is also a right time to buy it. July is when they are eager to sell a lot of things because that is the end of their calendar year."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the pricing an eight out of ten."
"The product is affordable."
"D-Link Wireless is cheaper than Ruckus or Cisco."
"This solution is more affordable than others on the market."
"D-Link Wireless' price is the same as Aruba's. You need to pay one-time costs for the product."
"The cost can range from $100 to $400."
"There is no licensing fee for the solution."
"D-Link pricing is very competitive when you consider other OEMs."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Educational Organization
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?
Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
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...
How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...
Which wireless solution would you choose - Huawei or D-Link?
Huawei wireless is a strong and solid product that has a lot of features - and for all that it offers, it happens to be very cost effective. As a wireless solution, it is simple and its user interf...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for D-Link Wireless?
The tool’s pricing is good for the functionality it provides. It is a one-time purchase. The cost can range from $100 to $400. The higher-end devices might cost $400.
 

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
D-Link WLAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
Metropolitan Public Defender, Mission Motorcycles
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs. D-Link Wireless and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.