Cisco Aironet and Catalyst Access Points vs Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Oil & Energy Company, 501-1000 employees

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For a large (several hundred+) corporate environment, you will probably want a [Wireless LAN Controller] to be able to scale your AP footprint. Cisco [Wireless LAN Controllers] stand up to the task and, as mentioned, once you get it set up how you want, it really doesn't need to be messed with except for periodic updates. Just manage your APs from there.

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Derek Benson

Infrastructure, Network Administrator II

Dynamic AviationAviation & Aerospace, 501-1000 employees

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Pros

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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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Utilities Company, 10,001+ employees

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The WLC are very reliable. In the 10+ years the company has had them installed, we have not had any hardware or component failures.
No need for reboots. The CISCO WLC is not like a router you may have at home which you may have to reboot every few weeks or months. It can run for months without needing a reboot.
The Cisco WLC gives you a quick Network Summary when you first log into the system. This is very helpful to get a quick rundown on the status of your wireless network.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Utilities Company, 201-500 employees

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Cons

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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Gleison Leandro Rodrigues

Networking Coordinator

NetshoesInternet, 1001-5000 employees

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Configuring wireless settings is very confusing because various settings are scattered all over the interface in different tabs
Lots of settings use Cisco's technical verbiage rather than common phrasing, so it's confusing what a lot of settings will do and requires researching the meaning before modifying the setting
The interface could be easier to use to do simple tasks such as reboot an access point

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Consumer Goods Company, 51-200 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

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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Usability

No score

No answers yet

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Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers 9.0

Based on 1 answer

As I said before, the only thing we miss in our old model is the fact that the management interface never received an improvement in design. It has the same look and feels since it was launched. It's not that it's hard to use. It's just the case of could be modernized.

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Eduardo Viero

IT Infrastructure Specialist

RANDON S.AAutomotive, 5001-10,000 employees

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Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

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Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers 7.2

Based on 6 answers

As usual, the support from Cisco's TAC (Technical Assistance Center) is lacking. Granted, they always get the job done, but the amount of lead time on a non-emergency is enough to make you just handle it yourself. The good news is that if you ask for Cisco's assistance and forget about it, they'll jump on by the time you've forgotten where you were in troubleshooting it and have it fixed for you.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

The usage scenario was different. I don't see this as a benefit versus harm comparison, necessarily. What happened was that, at a certain point, the implementation of the cisco solution was the winner of our public bidding process and with that, we implemented it and have used it ever since.

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Roni Peterson Alvarenga

Diretor de Tecnologia da Informação e Telecomunicação

Câmara Municipal de CampinasGovernment Administration, 501-1000 employees

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Depending on your client needs you may want to go with a Unify system or Aruba controller less system if they are a small to medium business. The reason why we use Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers, is due to how well they work in congested environments and have a wealth of configuration settings.

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Michael Miller

Senior Network Engineer

Arctic MSP, IncComputer & Network Security, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

Obviously, these things aren't cheap. But we do believe that with the functionality we get, we are getting a good return on productivity.
These things are really reliable, we don't spend a lot of time troubleshooting or replacing them.

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Verified User

Director in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 201-500 employees

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Frustration levels have gone way down after going to the wireless lan controller
You could argue money has been saved as we can keep a single lineup of AP's and corresponding wireless lan controller
Costs will have to go up when you start adding one of these into the mix

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Cisco Aironet and Catalyst Access Points vs Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers