Likelihood to Recommend Cisco Routers are well suited when it comes to create a meshed VPN infrastructure with all your branch offices worldwide. You can easily configure the Cisco Routers with static VPN, DMVPN or SD-WAN, which is great. You can also use a Cisco Routers as a CUBE to establish a direct routing (voice) for MS Teams.
Read full review It's best suited for small offices 10-25 users. Any more and its best to move away to a more higher tier. It will be less appropriate for a mid level company with a large staff. It's best for a small business with a limited budget and less strenuous security functionality.
Read full review Pros Helps to separate routing information for different networks for different customers. Helps peers with service providers and Customer Networks and starts the exchange of information between them. Helps facilitate internet connectivity for enterprise networks. Helps transferring Internet or Private Data from one place to another. Read full review It has the typical firewall functions you'd expect in an all in one unit. GUI interface is easier to use by less technical users. The extra features such as VLANs are nice to have. Read full review Cons Software-defined radios could be used so that both the radios could be converted into 5 GHz model to provide enhanced connectivity in network congestion scenarios. Support for low power IoT devices. Should provide more details about devices connected to the access points such as the risk score of the devices. Enhanced encryption algorithms and quick firmware upgrades. Read full review More switchports would be welcome, although this would increase cost and size Faster wireless would improve performance An SPF port would allow uplinking to more business-class switches Read full review Likelihood to Renew We are extremely likely to renew, as we have been very happy with our Cisco Routers for over 10 years. Their uptime as well as stable nature makes them ideal for us, as we are an industry that cannot afford downtime. We trust our partner to recommend our next model Cisco, when the time comes.
Read full review Support Rating The features are good. The support is good. The resources to deploy, manage, and operate it are good. Customer's feedback and testimonials are good. The updates in terms of zero day vulnerabilities are good and timely. But, I still give an 8 out of 10 because I think the pricing, licensing, and GUI can be improved more.
Read full review Alternatives Considered The main reason to go with Cisco Routers is reliability. Other than that most engineers are certified to operate these routers. Other reasons are good technical support, quality community and familiarity/experience within the industry of networking. It is by default product to go with in many situations.
Read full review Cisco's power really stems from its brand reputation and honestly not much else. No one ever got fired for deploying Cisco, and that's why it stands out. The Cisco Small Business RV Series is no exception there; the unit is built well and does the job. However, much more powerful alternatives for routers are out there—the biggest competitor being Ubiquiti. The UniFi routers are significantly more powerful in all regards, including routing speed, IPS/IDS speeds, and VPN functionality. Support for those is admittedly rather lackluster though, so if your network is critical, you are effectively self-insuring your equipment. For some that may be fine, but for others, that risk of extended downtime is just not worth it.
Read full review Return on Investment Experience tells us that using Cisco products is always positive since the quality/price is very well distributed. They reduce energy costs and the consumption of resources, optimizing efficiency to the maximum The equipment is prepared so that all kinds of people can use them. They have higher levels of access and service. Its functionality is one of the best on the market, its unmatched response. Cisco routers provide fast access and hassle-free connectivity and are renowned for their performance. TAC's service is by far the best accessible configuration manuals Read full review Very good ROI Most products have a CLI that is easy to use and understand. Very large feature set. Cisco offers numerous open standard and proprietary protocols and options in their code that other vendors lack parity with. Read full review ScreenShots