Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points vs Cisco Embedded Wireless Controller

Likelihood to Recommend

Dead simple to setup, deploy, upgrade and manage. If a colleague was asking for a solid AP that just runs and runs without tiring out and they dont want to break the bank with the higher end units, this is a great place to look. I would say that you're going to have to deal with Cisco licensing support at some point during setup, but thats par for the course.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Unless you're a mega corporation, most mid size to large companies could use a few of these guys around to balance the wireless load a bit. I could recommend it to someone looking for a relatively cheap set of devices that can alleviate some of the strain on the network backbone that services your wireless systems.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Pros

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.

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Debbie Johnson

Technology Systems Manager

Gentry Locke Rakes & MooreLaw Practice, 51-200 employees

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They seem solid and well built, hardly ever fail
Once you get a hand of the setup they're easy to add/remove
Automatic failover is seamless and super helpful

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Cons

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

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Outsourcing/Offshoring Company, 11-50 employees

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Some bugs in the interface.
Issues with licensing and Cisco DNA integration.
Frequent software patches needed,

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points 9.1

Based on 1 answer

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

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Research Company, 5001-10,000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

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Usability

Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points 9.1

Based on 2 answers

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.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Research Company, 5001-10,000 employees

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Performance

Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points 8.1

Based on 3 answers

Great overall Performance from a WIFI perspective, creating a truly enhanced coverage map and providing good VOIP throughput. The dual radio, 4x4 MIMO WAVE2 spec provides up to 1.7Gbps to client devices and has Link Aggregation Group (LAG) for the two 1 Gigabit ethernet ports. In conjunction to this the Wave2 has the ability to transmit beam-forming connectivity for a better client experience overall.

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Verified User

C-Level Executive in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 11-50 employees

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Support Rating

Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points 8.2

Based on 1 answer

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.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Research Company, 5001-10,000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Speaking about Access Points in the 1830 series that are devices slightly below the 1850 series that we have talked about, the biggest advantage that I think we can have when buying one of the 1850 series would be to have a greater data transfer from the Access Point to the users since the 1830 APs only reach 867 Mbps at the frequency of 5GHz, compared to the new series that can reach 1.7 Gbps. That helps us a lot when making transfers of heavy data, improving download time on wireless devices, be it a smartphone or a laptop, etc.

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Benjamín Marrón Rojas

Help Desk Network Engineer

SpconnetTelecommunications, 11-50 employees

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Scalability

Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points 8.2

Based on 3 answers

This is the beauty of any Cisco WLC controlled AP series, you get almost zero setup rollout. You just plug this thing in on the network and it searches for the WLC, upgrades itself, and sits there ready to be named and deployed. You can even setup profiles that it can take without any admin intervention.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Return on Investment

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.

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Darren Hosking

Solutions Architect

NEC AustraliaComputer Networking, 1001-5000 employees

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Intelligent configuring cuts out much time required to deploy access points
Mobile app has given us more (and faster) control over each departments devices
Having a well functioning wireless network encourages departments to keep adding devices!

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No