Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued) vs. FortiAP

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Score 6.3 out of 10
N/A
Currently supported by Cisco, but no longer sold, Cisco recommends migration to the Cisco Catalyst 9100 Family of Access Points, which offer greater performance and flexibility.N/A
FortiAP
Score 5.1 out of 10
N/A
FortiAP is an access point from Fortinet.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)FortiAP
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)FortiAP
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 Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)FortiAP
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)FortiAP
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 Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)FortiAP
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(13 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)FortiAP
Likelihood to Recommend
Discontinued Products
Cisco Aironet 1550 Series Access Points is very useful for outdoor locations that are more exposed to the wilderness or the weather, which provides uninterrupted wifi access during high winds and bad weather. It also is useful for hazardous locations that are prone to danger or wildlife. Unfortunately, it would not be appropriate to get a Cisco Aironet 1550 Series Access Point if it is only needed for basic wifi use, or indoor use, as the extra features and price would not be necessary.
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Fortinet
Any rollout is well suited for a FortiAP - from small office networks, to large warehouse deployments. Adding additional APs to your network is simple and easy. Monitoring is simple with Forticloud monitoring. Configuring the devices can be as complex or as simple as you need. Adding additional Fortinet devices (I have switches and firewalls) makes the network even more secure and easy to manage - all devices working in tandem make monitoring much easier
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Pros
Discontinued Products
  • Outdoor mesh bridging of access points brings significant cost savings to many of our production facilities. Deploying mesh APs is a significant cost reduction over trenching conduit to connect remote areas via fiber.
  • Cisco APs are extremely resilient, with a failure rate of below 5% in some of our harshest environments.
  • Cisco APs have the intelligence to identify wireless interference sources with Clean Air technology
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Fortinet
  • Built sturdy for harsh environments.
  • They perform and/or surpass performance levels shown on their data sheets.
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Cons
Discontinued Products
  • In the facilities where we operate, we had to put a reinforcement on the ceiling to avoid problems due to the weight of the access point.
  • On the appearance, it could be smaller and lighter.
  • As for the hardware, I think it's incredible, I don't see any points to improve.
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Fortinet
  • Deploying your first AP is a little confusing - you need to register it with Fortinet, and then deploy it. I am a master now, but this took me call to support to understand how to roll these out.
  • Adding them in to the correct folders on Forticloud took a little bit of figuring out, but again, once I had it it was simple.
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Likelihood to Renew
Discontinued Products
There is no other better option than this. It's the line between the commercial Cisco grade AP's and industrial ones.
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Fortinet
This is an excellent product for an SMB - cost isn't outrageous and deploy is simple. I can monitor my network without breaking the bank.
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Usability
Discontinued Products
Everything clear and easy to use
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Fortinet
No answers on this topic
Performance
Discontinued Products
The Cisco Aironet 1560 Series Access Points served their function well. They were reliable, provided decent speeds, resisted the elements, and provided a good investment. The only downsides were mostly appearance which doesn't matter that much. However, I believe that the tech in the access point is not future proof which is why I did not give it a nine or ten star rating.
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Fortinet
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Discontinued Products
Initially I had a problem with the regulatory and channel selection, it was a bug on the AP as it was fairly new, solved by TAC on engineering release, and since then it has been performing flawlessly.
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Fortinet
Fortinet support is outstanding! They are second to none. They pay attention to details and the needs of the customer.
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Alternatives Considered
Discontinued Products
Making the decision to use Aironet is more related to the type of scenario that you have. We chose Aironet because we mainly manage all the network internally and already have Cisco products to integrate with Meraki which is a good option if you are starting from scratch.
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Fortinet
FortiAP does not fall short compared to other vendors. They have all the features other vendors offer at a much more competitive price-point, which makes purchasing FortiAP a lot more attractive.
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Scalability
Discontinued Products
The software of the Cisco Aironet 1560 is highly scalable, the software is very powerful so that the APs can be customized to the maximum and achieve the best performance of the network at the wifi level. The use of it is very easy for people with low knowledge.
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Fortinet
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Discontinued Products
  • With only a few DOA's or failing devices, the AP's are of very high quality.
  • We expect them to run stable for many years, which is why our initial investment will be an intelligent choice compared to installing a cheaper product.
  • Although the AP's from Cisco is cutting-edge technology, the 802.11ac standard will be considered legacy in a few years, meaning that its a balance to purchase a well-designed product that won't outlast the tech that it provides. Imagine having an investment in a large fleet of high-quality 802.11b AP's 20 years ago. Although they would still be working flawlessly due to their good quality, the bandwidth would probably be unacceptable to most modern consumers.
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Fortinet
  • Increased overall coverage of wireless for my users - no more calls about dropped wireless (our cell service is very spotty).
  • Easy to roll out - no issues here.
  • Expensive - you are paying for a business, not a home use devices - sticker shock might happen initially.
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