Likelihood to Recommend I consider that its implementation is recommended for configurations where the amount of access points exceeds 50 devices and the performance exceeds 4 Gbps. In environments where the access point density is less than 10 units, we can use the option of Express Mobility.
Read full review Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points are well suited for most applications as they scale very well and can be configured to work in a lot of different scenarios. However they are quite costly so they may not be suited for all business purposes. But they do perform and deliver and rarely cause issues.
Read full review Pros It has the ability to manage all Cisco access points that we have, regardless of the model. The limit is 1500 pieces of equipment. The WLC enables roaming functionality in the localities, this helps with collections, wireless IP phones, and access with notebooks. The WLC manages the quality of the "air" and "signal" of the 2.4ghz frequency, avoiding noise and interference. The WLC has an interesting feature of visibility of the traffic of the internal network. Read full review It is a versatile, clean, balanced and secure access point. Wifi 5 802.11ac wave 2 technology. Client link and cleanair are functions to mitigate and improve user connection. Reliable smartnet service for warranty and technical support. Perfect for offices and indoor locations. Read full review Cons We have had some issues with access points losing their configurations and going offline. This is not a common issue and we are not entirely certain if it is a fault of the controller or the individual APs. That said, the controller does not appear to retain the knowledge of the offline AP which can be a management headache. Read full review Firmware distribution between access points Replace web auth certificate without reloading WLC controllers The issue with expired MIC certificate - but this is not an issue with 9100 New AP with new hardware revision works only with the new WLC firmware Read full review Likelihood to Renew It works great and [we] will definitely renew.
Read full review Usability The Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points have been a solid deployment for me. Using their interface is a mix of new and old. They run IOS, so if you know the CLI, you can easily navigate around them. You can join them to an older controller if it supports a certain version, you can join it to a new 9800 controller--very straight forward--and you can run the embedded wireless controller on them directly. I've found this to be very useful at smaller sites. The Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points are not limited to feature sets like the older generations' mobility express platform.
Read full review Performance Cisco is providing the best in class access points. We would be focusing Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points to have the common platform. We are waiting for cloud implementation on DNA or cloud monitoring of 9800cl in Meraki dashboard. It's reliable, tagging gives a lot of flexibility. Virtualization finally works as expected.
Read full review Support Rating Cisco is always available if we need support. If they are unable to solve the problem right away, they will reach back to us in a timely manner and advise what we need to do. Their team provides additional guidance as well if we hit any stumbling blocks. Their service has been great.
Read full review Cisco has been very good at correcting early issues with their code. Their TAC support has been fantastic when I would open a case with issues I was facing. Even though the hardware was new, they were very familiar with the interfaces and issues I was having. In the past I've been concerned about adopting a new product right away because of support issues. That was not the case here. Once I had the deployment up and running, they have had a good run of reliability.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Cisco is the most stable company in switching parts including wireless, and it has the most powerful support team with a lot of online documents, community, and market share so when you get stuck, you can find support from anywhere. And usually, you won't need it as its product is very stable and reliable.
Read full review In testing, Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points outperformed all other APs in our testing. Performance was second to none in the testing lineup. Reliability has been proven over the many years we have used this product. The new 9100s have also not presented any hardware reliability issues for us so far. Some of the other vendors offer some nice to have features such as Bluetooth device diagnostics and very deep AI assurance.
Read full review Scalability These access points offer flexibility in deployment scenarios, supporting both standalone and controller-based architectures. Organisations can choose the model that best suits their current needs and scale as their requirements grow. Cisco Aironet Access Points are compatible with Cisco's Wireless LAN controllers, allowing for centralized management and monitoring of a large number of access points across the network. With the recent changes, it will even support cloud base controllers.
Read full review Return on Investment [It provides] centralized management. Implementing the [Cisco] 5520 [Wireless] Controllers offered us a huge improvement in administrative time over our previous Cisco 3850 deployment. Being able to see all of our APs on a single controller as well as centrally manage them is a great benefit. This also removed the need to deploy specific equipment in different IDFs throughout our Industrial locations and instead only requiring switches with Power Over Ethernet (POE) capability. Wireless performance has improved with the deployment of our 5520s, which allows our plant operators to do their jobs more efficiently while on the move. Having three Cisco 5520 Wireless Controllers provides tertiary redundancy for our wireless networks. The solution is elegantly simple. Preventing downtime is, obviously, a profound part of our supply chain capabilities. Read full review With a wide range of Wi-Fi and security options, as well as the ability to expand and scale easily, it’s an excellent solution. It achieved a significant rise in the number of concurrent wireless network users with a low-cost solution that provided outstanding performance. We invested in wireless networks in the long run, and as a result, we could connect more users without compromising performance. Read full review ScreenShots