Likelihood to Recommend Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points are well suited for most applications as they scale very well and can be configured to work in a lot of different scenarios. However they are quite costly so they may not be suited for all business purposes. But they do perform and deliver and rarely cause issues.
Read full review Ubiquiti is well suited to not just indoor WLAN access, but also outdoors. In fact, the range of the outdoor applications, while maintaining throughput is astonishing. I would say this is not a solution for a 1-5 person small office, due to the costs.
Read full review Pros It is a versatile, clean, balanced and secure access point. Wifi 5 802.11ac wave 2 technology. Client link and cleanair are functions to mitigate and improve user connection. Reliable smartnet service for warranty and technical support. Perfect for offices and indoor locations. Read full review The access points are rock solid for uptime. Once configured, they don't skip a beat and you'll forget they're there. Excellent range and signal strength. Very comprehensive configuration and administration via the UniFi Controller software. The Ubiquiti access points look great! Whether wall or ceiling mounted, they are discrete and neutral enough to just blend in with the building. Being powered via PoE, it's easier to place the access points where they're most useful. Read full review Cons Firmware distribution between access points Replace web auth certificate without reloading WLC controllers The issue with expired MIC certificate - but this is not an issue with 9100 New AP with new hardware revision works only with the new WLC firmware Read full review Management of devices has become much simpler with the UNMS application, but personally, I would like to see some AirMax-like devices from their Unifi line where everything could be managed from an Unifi controller. Most Ubiquiti devices are 24V PoE, which is the bane of my existence. I have had several devices fried when staff plugged into standard 48V PoE. They generally don't fail catastrophically, either. You just get strange issues that are difficult to diagnose and eventually need to replace them. Devices seem to have trouble with many patch cables/switches. Make sure you certify any patch cables you make and don't over crimp. Sending devices from the factory with same 192.168.1.20 IP instead of DHCP makes it a pain to bulk-setup devices. Read full review Usability The Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points have been a solid deployment for me. Using their interface is a mix of new and old. They run IOS, so if you know the CLI, you can easily navigate around them. You can join them to an older controller if it supports a certain version, you can join it to a new 9800 controller--very straight forward--and you can run the embedded wireless controller on them directly. I've found this to be very useful at smaller sites. The Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points are not limited to feature sets like the older generations' mobility express platform.
Read full review Ubiquiti makes great Access points at various tiers provided far better coverage and throughput than consumer-grade wireless repeaters and routers. We have not had any performance complaints from guests or from the administration who use the wifi on a daily basis.
Read full review Performance Cisco is providing the best in class access points. We would be focusing Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points to have the common platform. We are waiting for cloud implementation on DNA or cloud monitoring of 9800cl in Meraki dashboard. It's reliable, tagging gives a lot of flexibility. Virtualization finally works as expected.
Read full review Support Rating Cisco has been very good at correcting early issues with their code. Their TAC support has been fantastic when I would open a case with issues I was facing. Even though the hardware was new, they were very familiar with the interfaces and issues I was having. In the past I've been concerned about adopting a new product right away because of support issues. That was not the case here. Once I had the deployment up and running, they have had a good run of reliability.
Read full review Ubiquiti's support is basically non-existent by design. However, their forums are a great resource if you are willing to do the research and ask questions. Keep in mind Ubiquiti sells hardware, not support so the responses will be from the community of professionals also using Ubiquiti just like you.
Read full review Alternatives Considered In testing, Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points outperformed all other APs in our testing. Performance was second to none in the testing lineup. Reliability has been proven over the many years we have used this product. The new 9100s have also not presented any hardware reliability issues for us so far. Some of the other vendors offer some nice to have features such as Bluetooth device diagnostics and very deep AI assurance.
Read full review We have used products from Netgear, ZyXEL, Cloudmesh,
Datto , Mereki, and EnGenius previously often choosing products based on a specific situation, since starting with Ubiquiti [WLAN] we have pretty much stopped [usage] of all other vendors in the networking field and standardized which better allows us to stock spare equipment. Best part is if you need to replace equipment it is easy to swap it out quickly as the controller also acts as a live configuration backup.
Read full review Scalability These access points offer flexibility in deployment scenarios, supporting both standalone and controller-based architectures. Organisations can choose the model that best suits their current needs and scale as their requirements grow. Cisco Aironet Access Points are compatible with Cisco's Wireless LAN controllers, allowing for centralized management and monitoring of a large number of access points across the network. With the recent changes, it will even support cloud base controllers.
Read full review Return on Investment With a wide range of Wi-Fi and security options, as well as the ability to expand and scale easily, it’s an excellent solution. It achieved a significant rise in the number of concurrent wireless network users with a low-cost solution that provided outstanding performance. We invested in wireless networks in the long run, and as a result, we could connect more users without compromising performance. Read full review Initial ROI was positive - but now we need to replace them We were able to deploy rapidly - configuration is easy if not consistent Upgrades are easy to apply when they don't take the radios offline - which happens more often then not Read full review ScreenShots