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Cisco Wireless vs D-Link Wireless 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
6.6
Number of Reviews
151
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 April 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 11.5%, down from 15.2% 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

GulfrazAhmad - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates with ISE, and is secure, reliable, and easy to deploy
The main concern is the length and overlapping. We have to put on four to six access points on the same floor, and we face the issue of overlapping areas. If Cisco can extend the range of their indoor APs, we would need to install just one or two access points, and it would eliminate the problem of the overlapping area. They should provide built-in features for safe authentication. Right now, we integrate with ISE and FortiClient for this feature. We first check the NAC, and after the NAC and before the domain, a token password installed on their mobile or a physical token is required to join the network. If Cisco had built-in authentication, we would be able to eliminate one product from our network.
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

"Its stability is most valuable."
"This solution is highly stable. We have only had one issue in seven years."
"The ability to deploy wireless access points with templates."
"The support offered by Cisco is excellent. They are very responsive and knowledgeable."
"The solution is highly scalable."
"Cisco is one of the leading brands, particularly in the commercial sector. Other brands such as Extreme, cater to different categories at lower levels. Cisco maintains a comprehensive product range across all levels and excels in comparison to other networking sites. They also boast a team of highly qualified professionals, a feature that sets them apart from competitors like Netgear, which lacks such expertise."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"The integration with Cisco ISE is good, and together we use them to provide services."
"It's scalable, user friendly, and easy to manage."
"It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"This is an affordable product that offers good performance. This is why it is popular with our customers. It offers good speed and bandwidth."
"The initial setup process was easy."
"The setup process is very 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."
"The system simplifies network management."
 

Cons

"If they could offer better coverage, we'd be much happier."
"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."
"It's expensive."
"The solution doesn't have much coverage area."
"The installation is not too difficult but the solution could improve by making the configuration easier."
"In the next release, I would like to have support for Wi-Fi 6."
"It's very scalable, but when you shift gears sometimes, you have to do more work than people anticipate."
"We've recently had hardware issues which have caused us some problems."
"The support offered by the product needs to be faster with better technical personnel."
"Sometimes we configure the SSID with a password but the same AP shows two WiFi connections with the same SSID name (one is protected by a password and another one give access without a password)."
"Sometimes, the solution needs to be restarted."
"The solution's performance could be improved."
"The stability could be a bit better."
"In future, it would also be good to have a switch within D Link that works as well as the Cisco 9200 Switch."
"It would definitely help if we had more advanced features for distributing bandwidth."
"The cloud managed solution needs improvement, and they should focus on the SD-WAN segment with regard to integration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."
"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 reasonable."
"I think that the solution is expensive because the customer has to pay for a full year, at a minimum, in up-front costs."
"There are no subscription fees."
"Cisco is more on the expensive side, as compared to Aruba, but I must say Cisco's quality is unmatched, for sure."
"I feel the product's pricing is a good value."
"We are on an annual license. The license and the hardware are expensive."
"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."
"There is no licensing fee for the solution."
"The product is affordable."
"D-Link Wireless' price is the same as Aruba's. You need to pay one-time costs for the product."
"This solution is more affordable than others on the market."
"D-Link Wireless is cheaper than Ruckus or Cisco."
"D-Link pricing is very competitive when you consider other OEMs."
"The cost can range from $100 to $400."
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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
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
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

Cisco WLAN Controller
D-Link WLAN
 

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)
Metropolitan Public Defender, Mission Motorcycles
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless vs. D-Link Wireless and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.