Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller vs. Juniper WLA & WLC Series (discontinued)

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.

Incentivized

Back in the day these were really well priced, and had some amazing coverage. After using newer Cisco gear, while more expensive, they dont shine so brightly anymore. They did have trouble under load as well. I would recommend them to someone only if they were really constrained in their budget for wifi equipment.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Great pricing structure
• Licensing was easy and straight forward
• Interface was quick and simple

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Bug patches were always a problem to do
• Support was rarely helpeful
• It seemed they stopped releasing fixes for many bugs we encountered so we had to live with them

Incentivized

It works great and [we] will definitely renew.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

• [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.

Incentivized

• A bit more time troubleshooting client disconnects
• Money saved on the more expensive hardware
• Frustration with support on many occasions

Incentivized