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Reliable Wireless Solution
December 14, 2020

Reliable Wireless Solution

Umair Ali Khan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller

Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller has been a part of our IT infrastructure for more than 2 years now. We are mainly using it to manage our entire wireless network including our head office and remote offices. All our access points are registered on it and we can view and control all our wireless users from a single dashboard.
We have two units in a HA pair and they have been working fine since the deployment.
  • Centralized management of Access points and WLANs
  • Centralized Management of users
  • Single pane of view for all wireless statistics
  • Auto Failover
  • Backed by Cisco's global support
  • Auto configuration backup is not available
  • OS upgrade in a HA pair
  • Better searching option in mac address filter list
  • Direct integration with microsoft AD without using ISE
  • Best for high user density environments
  • Not suitable for outdoor environments
  • Improved mobility experience for users
  • Reduced cabling costs
  • Improved wireless network uptime
D-Link Wireless solution is one of the less expensive wireless solutions in the market and comparatively Cisco's wireless solution is a lot expensive. However when it comes to performance in a high user density environment where low latency and moderate wireless bandwidth is required, Cisco beats D-link by a huge margin. D-Link Wireless solution does not perform well with high user density and there are a lot of packet drops in the wireless traffic. Cisco Wireless solution handles it very well.

Do you think Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller again?

Yes

Cisco has a wide range of wireless controllers and 3504 is the entry level controller. It can support up to 150 Access points. Therefore it is very well suited for medium sized enterprises , however small businesses can also use it in their networks but it is not so light on the budget and small businesses will find it very expensive.

Using Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller

550 - All users in the head office and remote offices use the Cisco wireless and they represent different functions of the company, for example HR, finance, administration, sales, marketing, operations, IT operations, IT applications, production control, local purchasing, general purchasing, cost management, supply chain management, quality assurance, accounting, treasury, vendor base improvement and others.
4 - We have a team of four people that are responsible for the management, monitoring and maintenance of of Cisco 3504 WLAN controller among other network devices. These people posses following skills which are required for this type of role:

1- CCNA
2- CCNA Wireless
3- CCNA Security
4- Network Management
5- Network Administration
6- Network Monitoring
7- Wireless network design
  • Centralized wireless management
  • High user density wireless support
  • Auto Failover
  • used it to connect different handheld devices
  • used it to connect thin clients
  • used it to connect NUC devices
  • replace LAN with WLAN
  • reduce cabling costs
  • deploy BYOD
We have been using Cisco 3504 Wireless Controller in our network infrastructure for a long time now and it has been a very critical and beneficial addition in our network infrastructure. it has provided us with the tools required to efficiently manage and monitor our wireless network and users. it is a highly reliable and efficient device for any kind of environment.