Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued) vs. Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Score 9.4 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
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 Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco 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 Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Small Businesses
Ubiquiti WLAN
Ubiquiti WLAN
Score 9.2 out of 10
Ubiquiti WLAN
Ubiquiti WLAN
Score 9.2 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 Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(20 ratings)
8.2
(35 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(34 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(6 ratings)
7.8
(35 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Likelihood to Recommend
Discontinued Products
Cisco [Aironet Access Points] are well suited in offices where they can be managed by a wireless LAN controller (WLC). Using them in this way allows the APs to be well managed and security policies can easily be enforced down to users connecting to these APs for wireless access. Scenarios, where Cisco [Aironet Access Points] are less appropriate, are in small-office-home-office (SOHO) situations because of price and licensing costs to use a WLC to manage them. Thus, using them, in this case, would be that the APs would have to be in Autonomous mode, and the technical know-how in converting a lightweight AP to an Autonomous one is not straightforward.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Pros
Discontinued Products
  • Until 2018, our Aironets were 1560 series, and each was managed separately. We had about 9 devices, 3-4 per floor, strategically placed on each floor to get a good coverage map over a three-floor environment. Their coverage was greater than expected. With the latest 1852 models we have, they are managed by a controller, and frankly, the coverage is a smaller area, requiring more units. We have worked with support for months and this is the final outcome of all the setting changes - we simply need more devices to cover the same area.
  • None of the models I have used have needed reboots. We usually only reboot the devices annually, and they don't have issues requiring restarts.
  • With the 1560 series, the connection strength was extremely consistent. With the new 1852 model, which is managed by one of the WAPs as a controller, it is supposed to use smart technology to load balance (optional) and determine which of the WAPs is appropriate to connect the requesting device to - great idea - but it does NOT work well.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Cons
Discontinued Products
  • On the Mobility Express models, it’s hard to configure all from the GUI, and sometimes the GUI is buggy
  • In Mobility Express, the (virtual) controller is not able to push the right image to the APs. This sometimes results in not joining the APs
  • Some minor issues with firmware
Read full review
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"
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Discontinued Products
If Cisco keeps innovating the feature sets on the next 1800 models, I would definitely try it out to improve the experience of my users and to keep them on the latest technologies
Read full review
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Usability
Discontinued Products
Pretty straightforward guide, which was built since OEAP600 AP's and never improved, this is a good thing for user to tackle when they configure the personal SSID, but does not reflect how it should be in 2020, where everything is mobile compatible and app ready. Cisco are going to have an app for this, but it comes with greater cost.
Read full review
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Discontinued Products
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
Read full review
Performance
Discontinued Products
Performance is great until you hit load towards the higher end of its rated load. So if you have a super highly congested wifi area, you will want to either deploy a higher end unit or split the traffic to a few of these guys to not see bandwidth issues that you may see otherwise.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Support Rating
Discontinued Products
If you are able to identify the problem initially, you would be able to explain it to the TAC. In order for the TAC to understand it, the TAC engineer must be competent enough to understand it, and have the devices already in lab to test with. Each bug I encountered the TAC was able to help. And I was able to file at least 3 bugs on the 1815T and M.
Read full review
Cisco
Great contact to Wireless Innovate Program Team and TAC to solve our problems.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Discontinued Products
Cisco Aironet has it place in the modern workplace and is great for single location deployments creating a good robust affordable solution. Installing them in a plant that has exposure to environmental elements they have stood the test of time, well so far. If you are looking for multi-location, multi-national or international deployments with a single plane of glass the Cisco Meraki MR's are a better choice, enhancing the time to deploy and ease of management.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Scalability
Discontinued Products
It can easily support growth and be deployed in multiple locations. The access point has an integrated controller that can manage up to a certain amount of equipment in different locations. Setup is instantaneous and takes approximately 10 minutes to configure itself.
Read full review
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Discontinued Products
  • We can be in Mobility Express mode where the AP provides the controller functionality to support a small to medium deployment without requiring a dedicated controller.
  • Access Points are centrally managed via a WLC reducing the management overhead for deployment, configuration, and upgrade.
Read full review
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
Read full review
ScreenShots