Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller vs. Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
The Cisco 5520 Series Wireless LAN Controller is a highly scalable, service-rich, resilient, and flexible platform that is ideal for medium-sized to large enterprise and campus deployments.N/A
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
N/A
The Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 is a modular wireless controller with optional 100 Gigabit Ethernet (G) modular uplinks boasting seamless software updates for large enterprises and campuses, and security with ETA and SD-Access.N/A
Pricing
Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Considered Both Products
Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller

No answer on this topic

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
9800 is a big improvement in easy of overall configuration, upgrading and troubleshooting.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Small Businesses
Ubiquiti WLAN
Ubiquiti WLAN
Score 9.3 out of 10
Ubiquiti WLAN
Ubiquiti WLAN
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Point
Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Point
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Point
Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Point
Score 9.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(13 ratings)
8.2
(35 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(34 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.9
(35 ratings)
Support Rating
9.2
(7 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
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.
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Cisco
If we are thinking about replacing old Cisco AireOS controllers with a new technology, we can only choose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers. Configuration based on Profiles and SiteTag is convenient and easier compared to the previous configuration. You can see that the entire controller has been designed from scratch. Support for new AccessPoints in Wifi 6 offers great possibilities.
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Pros
Cisco
  • 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.
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Cisco
  • Easily manages a large number of APs.
  • It can push out settings or a new OS to a large group of APs at once.
  • The GUI is very intuitive, and follows the model Cisco has created for many of their products.
  • It integrates well with our ISE environment for handling RADIUS requests.
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Cons
Cisco
  • 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.
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Cisco
  • add more sub-genres to the main menu
  • make the product easier for people to use, that aren't working with it all day
  • make the initial setup menu, where policies can be attached to Tags etc. more accessible
  • When selecting APs from the Landing Page, make it possible to rename them immediately without having to switch to "Configuration" -> "Access Points"
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
It works great and [we] will definitely renew.
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Cisco
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
The availability of the cisco 9800 wireless lan controller depends on several factors including deloyment mode of the controllers itself, network size and architecture and the maitenance and support factor. It is designed to meet the needs of a large enterprise and together with a cisco support contract any outages will be covered
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Performance
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Fully robust and well-built solution. The solution fully is able to support a full campus WiFi environment without having any issues. There is no slowness to setting up a WiFi solution or any delays when changes are made. The product [can handle] beyond the listed specifications, but Cisco has kept performance and throughput to allow for a robust and smooth experience.
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Support Rating
Cisco
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.
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Cisco
Great contact to Wireless Innovate Program Team and TAC to solve our problems.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
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.
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Cisco
We original worked with a Linksys based wireless system. Cisco improved our network reliability and speed which were the key reasons we upgraded our hardware in the first place. It appears that Cisco is better suited in a Business environment than its competitors are. I look forward to completing the network and to see it fully functional.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • [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.
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Cisco
  • We did replace several WLCs in our site with a redundant [Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller] and saved the cost
  • [Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller] with IOS-XE enable us to manage APs in our branches easily, easier than AireOS
  • ISSU enable us to do firmware upgrade with minimum downtime, a site with 24/7 activity will not be interrupted anymore
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ScreenShots