Fortinet FortiWLM vs Huawei Wireless comparison

Fortinet and Huawei are both solutions in the Wireless LAN category. Fortinet is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.4, while Huawei is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.4. Fortinet holds a 2.0% mindshare in Wireless LAN, compared to Huawei’s 5.5% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Huawei users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiWLM

Read 25 Fortinet FortiWLM reviews

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2,338 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Huawei Wireless

Read 36 Huawei Wireless reviews

5,817 Views
5,061 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiWLM

Huawei Wireless

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

Huawei Wireless and Fortinet FortiWLM compete in the networking category focusing on wireless communication solutions. Huawei Wireless has an edge in affordability and ease of setup, while Fortinet FortiWLM stands out for its robust security features and integration capabilities.

Features: Huawei Wireless is notable for its affordability, WiFi 6 capability, and seamless roaming, which particularly favor enterprise setups. It offers high performance with easy scalability, catering to cost-sensitive buyers. Fortinet FortiWLM is distinguished by its security architecture, leveraging the Security Fabric for unified management, which makes its security integration seamless. It includes features like Network-In-Control and superior roaming technology.

Room for Improvement: Huawei Wireless could enhance its integration with third-party products and improve support response times. It also needs a focus on SMB solutions, as its technical support can be occasionally slow. Fortinet FortiWLM might work on increasing user capacity, simplifying setup procedures, and enriching its reporting capabilities without reliance on FortiAnalyzer. Both systems have room for scaling with newer technologies.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Huawei Wireless is generally straightforward to deploy, with cost-effective solutions making it easy to use, but customer service can be inconsistent in some regions. Fortinet FortiWLM offers an intuitive deployment process and strong integration, though improvements are needed in support response times and RMA handling.

Pricing and ROI: Huawei Wireless is competitively priced, often cheaper than alternatives like Cisco and Aruba, delivering high ROI due to low costs. Fortinet FortiWLM, although more expensive, presents a compelling pricing model with reasonable licensing costs. It offers significant ROI for organizations emphasizing security and comprehensive management solutions, justifying the premium for its robust capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiWLM vs. Huawei Wireless Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiWLM vs. Huawei Wireless

January 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiWLM

Ranking in Wireless LAN

16th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Huawei Wireless

Ranking in Wireless LAN

9th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiWLM is 2.0%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Huawei Wireless is 5.5%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless LAN

Q&A Highlights

Suresh Sharma

Sr. Technical Executive at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 08, 2021

Which wireless controller has maximum client connectivity and high throughput?

Cisco has maximum client connectivity and high throughput.

See all answers

Featured Reviews

Zachary Wheeler

President / CEO at Secure Solutions Center LLC

Impressive manufacturing quality, highly durable, and very easy to deploy

They need to do more with their marketing. That's what's wrong with them. Nobody knows they do all this other stuff. I love the product. For an enterprise-level system, you never have to explain why you're recommending Fortinet, whereas you might have to do that if you want to use the Ubiquiti Professional or the new Netgear line, but you don't have to explain Fortinet. It has been remarkable to work with. It would be nice if they had some smaller switches or hubs. They should offer two-port, three-port, or four-port devices so that you don't have to buy an eight-port switch, and you don't have to use an unmanaged element, but their product line is very complete, and I can't say enough about it.

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Fahad Doguwa

Deputy Manager at Central Bank of Nigeria

Affordable platform with efficient analytics features

Huawei adapters have facilitated seamless integration with mobile devices, extending the LAN's reach. Additionally, including CampusInsight, a component offering analytics and visibility into wireless connectivity, has proven invaluable. This feature enables us to monitor network health and troubleshoot user-related issues efficiently. The reliability has had a positive impact on our operations. I advise others to go for Cisco if cost is not a factor. Otherwise, they can explore other options based on the availability of that OEM within the country. We have Huawei present in our country and provide all the necessary support, so we went forward with them. I rate it a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of this solution are its speed, reliability, and integration with the firewall."

"The Fortinet FortiWLM system can be controlled through the cloud controller, which is convenient when the solution is not installed in our environment, as it allows us to manage the entire WiFi or access points and provides more adaptability."

"The greatest advantage is the security fabric Fortinet offers."

"For me, the ease of setup and the rugged nature in harsh environments are most valuable. So, durability and ease of use have been its best features."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the management."

"Having the single pane of glass, by using the Fortinet Security Fabric, allows us to tighten security, and more easily and quickly create additional VLANs to help protect data. Rules in the firewall mean we can protect data and systems so that, should anything go wrong, any security issue is held to an individual device."

"I use Fortinet FortiWLM for wireless communication and the internet."

"This is the only product on the market currently that supports as many access points for wifi users."

More Fortinet FortiWLM pros

"The reliability has had a positive impact on our operations."

"Huawei Wireless has controllers inside the switches."

"The product is simple and easy to use."

"The most valuable thing about Huawei Wireless is that it is one of the cheapest WiFi 6 systems. Its price is very nice. The other WiFi systems cost about 15% more."

"The solution has high performance and we are using Wi-Fi 6 that we have found to be the best coverage."

"The product's Wi-Fi 7 solution stands out as it offers cutting-edge technology in wireless communication, enhancing bandwidth management and coverage."

"All of the features are valuable in Huawei Wireless."

"At the moment, I only have experience with the on-premise deployment of Huawei Wireless, but the cloud solution looks good on paper. It looks perfect. I can say that Huawei's cybersecurity is very good, stable, and works for long periods. My company has four devices running uptime for more than four years without stopping. I also like that the support for Huawei Wireless is swift, and support does precisely what you require, at least from the point of view of the technical engineer who communicated with Huawei support, as I'm more of a technical sales guy. Good technical support is vital to my company, partners, and customers. My company had this ongoing project with an ISP provider in Bulgaria that bought some routers. Still, the existing equipment was a completely different brand, so this provider wanted to migrate to Huawei Wireless and wanted help while migrating the existing infrastructure to Huawei, so the technical engineer assigned to raise the ticket with Huawei for checking and setting parameters correctly provided feedback about Huawei technical support being good quality-wise and TAT-wise. The technical engineer was also Cisco-certified and Juniper-certified and was not experienced with Huawei equipment. Still, he did mention that the Huawei Wireless router interface was straightforward, and even a person who's new to it would find it easy to configure. Huawei Wireless is user-friendly, which is another pro of the solution. It's easy to manage, and even the program language setting can be done with fewer commands than Juniper and Cisco equipment. Some of the features in Juniper need an external program, and the same features can be found in Huawei Wireless built-in, which I find remarkable."

More Huawei Wireless pros

Cons

"Improving support and firmware upgrades is necessary. Firmware upgrades and bug improvements need to be tested well."

"There are currently issues with Fortinet's software quality."

"There is very little publicly available information about Virtual Cell and Single Channel Architecture. Promotion of the overall technology is limited as well. Being more vocal about a product that has many advantages would go a long way to eliminating a lot of the confusion and negative perception about Virtual Cell and Single Channel Architecture."

"The interface could certainly do with some improvement. We have other customers with WiFi networks, and they always use Ubiquiti. With Ubiquiti, it's a much better user interface, and it is much easier to configure."

"The solution should improve user capacity."

"There are currently issues with Fortinet's software quality. We have concerns regarding the frequent updates needed because of short software cycles."

"The guest management features need to be improved by adding automation."

"The platform's pricing needs improvement."

More Fortinet FortiWLM cons

"The scalability could be better."

"The ongoing support and ongoing follow-up on customers is an area where the solution lacks."

"The stability could be improved."

"I have encountered connectivity issues with the tool. I am not sure if it is due to Wi-Fi inference. I would like the solution to include some marketing analytics features like evaluation of user behavior."

"The manageability of radio frequencies to avoid overlapping needs improvement."

"As such, there are no problems. It has been good. There were some issues with the network design, but that is not specifically related to the product. We had to make some improvements in the network design. The product as such is fine, and there are no big issues. We are using the latest version having most of the features available in the industry, so the specs are very high. If something new comes up new in the industry, it needs to be incorporated into the product."

"The solution could be easier to use."

"Huawei Wireless has a small technical problem. When you use a power injector, it needs to be specially configured for the switch to which it is connected. It tries to take power not from the power injector but from the switch. The funny thing when you look at it is that you have three switches or maybe four or five that are theoretically capable. However, the port on these switches is disabled. When you connect the access point to a power injector, the access point checks for features from the switch, but on this port, the switch doesn't do power. So, the access point changes these features to energy save mode and cuts off some features, especially WiFi 6. It took me two weeks to find out what's going on and how to mitigate this sort of problem. It is very easy to fix. You need to disable LLDP on the port on which you connect the access point to the power injector. Power injectors aren't quite commonly used, but I have 54 access points, and I have used about 27 power injectors. So, about half of the access points were working at reduced speed, not full speed, for two weeks."

More Huawei Wireless cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a perpetual license required for this solution and the price could be reduced."

"Fortinet would do something with their pricing model to attract smaller business users and eliminate the mandatory service contracts."

"Licensing costs are reasonable. There are so many different types of licenses with Fortinet, but the licensing and the 24/7/365 support are so reasonable that I automatically include it with every transaction. I never line item it without it. There are no additional costs."

"Support contracts typically cost approximately $100.00 per year."

"For indoor access points, there is a one-time cost, upfront, whereas outdoor access points have an annual fee."

"The price of Fortinet FortiWLM is reasonable compared to the other vendors. We are using a five-year license."

"The solution is expensive. I give the solution a one out of ten for the price."

"The product is highly expensive. I rate the pricing a ten."

More Fortinet FortiWLM pricing and cost advice

"We don't have any control on the pricing. This comes from Huawei in India. Pricing-wise, Huawei is very aggressive and competitive if you compare them to competitors, like Cisco, Aruba, and Ruckus. The Indian Huawei team tells us, "Just pick up the order and design the infrastructure. If there are any pricing challenge, we'll work on that and we will try to match things 100 percent.""

"Huawei comes at a cheaper price than competitors like Cisco and Aruba."

"I would rate them something, like, eight to nine, on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"Right now, my company made a one-time purchase of Huawei Wireless. It depends, but in most of the projects where customers buy hardware with some software, it's a one-time purchase. Customers pay a yearly fee for other projects for support and additional software features, such as email protection firmware updates for cybersecurity. You'll also receive information about the latest attacks and get more protection if you pay an additional fee apart from the standard license fee. You'll also get an additional warranty for Huawei Wireless, a yearly contract."

"The product has a good price."

"Its price is reasonable."

"Huawei Wireless is an expensive product. I'm rating it as one out of ten, price-wise."

"Huawei Wireless is a cheaper solution when you compare it to the cost of other similar solutions. It has one of the most competitive prices out there."

More Huawei Wireless pricing and cost advice

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Answers from the Community

Suresh Sharma

Sr. Technical Executive at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 8, 2021

Which wireless controller has maximum client connectivity and high throughput?

All are good selections, and this question is difficult to answer without knowing your throughput requirements, as each vendor has multiple models within there series. Personally I recommend looking at Arista Networks’ cognitive Wifi, where controllers are a thing of the past.

2 out of 7 answers

AlanTran

Director of Technical Services at CTM

Feb 17, 2020

Hi, It is all dependent on the size of the controllers in question. Though I would suggest getting a cloud base technology so you are limited by any controller and have much better redundancy. Take a look at Arista Cognitive Wireless

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Imad Awwad

Group IT Manager at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 17, 2020

Hi, Every one of the mentioned solutions is good but you need to check the needs which are security since the firms you are working with need protection and tracking of data. For this reason, I recommend: - if you have FortiGate installed then go for Fortinet Wireless since they can be integrated with the Fortigate without buying a controller and they work perfectly together and you will get the advantage of applying rules to the client himself whether mobile or computer, easily managed & monitored, more visibility over your network and incident notifications. If the above doesn't apply then you can go with the best one that fits your budget and security needs which for me doesn't fall on the mentioned solution but to go with ARUBA Instant Access Wireless Solution and the reasons are as such: - Cisco is too much expensive and you got to pay smart support with some complexity in configuration and you need to buy a controller - Ruckus is good but when you want to have the security you need to buy a controller with licenses and it won't give you the security needed since it is just a wireless solution - Huawei is not a stable company since it had many ups and downs and they can reach with you to have all the solutions nearly free so that you install their brand. Whereas Aruba you don't need a controller in the Instant access points and you will get the minimum security with radius integration and what is important a lifetime warranty on the access points. In addition, if the number of access points increased and you want more detailed management and more advanced configurations, you can buy a controller either on-premises or on-cloud with Aruba. The above information is based on my experience with all the solutions and their POC. If you need any more details and consultancy, kindly feel free to contact me. Regards.

Read full answer

See all 7 answers

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiWLM?

The security is a valuable feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiWLM?

The pricing for Fortinet products has increased. While historically there was a bundle price available, it's now gone, making Fortinet less affordable than before. However, they are not the most ex...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWLM?

There are currently issues with Fortinet's software quality. We have concerns regarding the frequent updates needed because of short software cycles. More cloud orientation like that seen in compan...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Huawei Wireless?

The reliability has had a positive impact on our operations.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Huawei Wireless?

For SMB customers with limited wireless users, Huawei Wireless may not be suitable due to the lack of multiple access points and the need for a centralized SSID. However, for large-capacity custome...

See all answers

Comparisons

Aruba Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 26% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 19% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 15% of the time

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 11% of the time

Omada Access Points vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 7% of the time

More Fortinet FortiWLM Competitors

D-Link Wireless vs Huawei Wireless

Compared 23% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs Huawei Wireless

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Huawei Wireless

Compared 15% of the time

Ubiquiti WLAN vs Huawei Wireless

Compared 14% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Huawei Wireless

Compared 10% of the time

More Huawei Wireless Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiWLM

February 2025

Download Fortinet FortiWLM product report

Buyer's Guide

Huawei Wireless

February 2025

Download Huawei Wireless product report

Also Known As

FortiWLM, FortiAP, Fortinet AP/OAP, Meru Wireless LAN

Huawei WLAN

Overview

Consolidate security and wireless LAN management with our integrated wireless solutions. Single-pane-of-glass management for security and access without the need to add point products simplifies deployment and reduces management complexity. These solutions are highly scalable to support even the largest organizations and distributed enterprises.

Fortinet

Huawei WLAN products are compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac standards to establish high-speed, secure, and reliable wireless network connections for indoor and outdoor applications.WLAN products can be used in enterprise offices, schools, hospitals, large shopping malls, exhibition centers, airports, and more.

Huawei

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Anhui Agricultural University (AAU), China Everbright Bank

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiWLM vs. Huawei Wireless

January 2025

Free Report: Fortinet FortiWLM vs. Huawei Wireless

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