Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points APs are worth the cost.
October 11, 2025

Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points APs are worth the cost.

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Cisco Catalyst 9136 Access Points
  • Cisco Catalyst 9130AX Series Access Points

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points

Cisco Access Point
Current a mix of x802i and x802e plus 9136 AP's. Across the entire organisation. Provides a seamless experience for end users by allowing them to roam from one area to another without any dropouts utilising Cisco 9000 series WLC

Pros

  • Throughput and offer multigig interfaces
  • Reliability
  • Ability to provide valuable information through the WLC on signal and usage stats

Cons

  • 6GHz frequency has some bugs with dropouts
  • Cost per unit
  • Overall positive investment as they are reliable and require very little maintenance or support
  • Easy to add additional AP's when changes happen.
We have had up to 30 users connected to a single AP and no reports of any performance issues. Switching between AP's when roaming is also seamless with users not noticing the switch allowing constant connectivity.
These units allow an easy setup of multiple SSID's along with multiple authentication methods to allow segmentation of wireless devices. With the WLC driving the AP's and using local offload it allows local switching instead of going through the controller allowing for a dual redundant setup across multiple sites and countries to reduce the amount of hardware and support required.
Since the Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points WLC is already setup and working it normally takes approximately 30 minutes to configure the switch port and onboard the AP correctly on the WLC. Physical installation of the unit can take longer depending on where it is being mounted (e.g. high ceilings in a production area compared to a basic office environment).
Two controllers are currently in place with a hardware one in the manufacturing site plus a cloud one in the main data center. These have a failover capability where if one of them goes down the AP's auto switch to the others. The failover can take upto 30 minutes (generally much quicker but depends on how many AP's are failing over at the time) but keeps things running
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points was chosen due to a standard of the Cisco networking equipment company wide. Meraki was considered due to it's cloud based management however throughput on the Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points AP's is better. Aruba wireless is comparable with the Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points units for throughput and manageability.

Do you think Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points again?

Yes

The throughput for the access points allow a better user experience as there is no bottle necks with a shared device. Ability to easily connect up various devices over multiple SSID's over multiple vlans to help secure the environment and separate OT from IT

Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points Feature Ratings

Wireless LAN
8.3
Zero-Touch Provisioning
7
WLAN Performance Monitoring
9
Topology Maps
6
Layer 7 Visibility
8
Power over Ethernet Support
10
Wireless Security
10

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