1. Home
  2. Wireless LAN Tools
  3. Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers Reviews
  4. User Review of Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Experienced user of Cisco WLC
December 10, 2020

Experienced user of Cisco WLC

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

5508 Wireless Controller

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers

We use the Cisco WLC across our whole organization in our company's 12 story building. We use it to give our employees the freedom to move around the building with their company issued laptops or their personal devices without worrying about not being able to get a good connection. We also use the Cisco WLC to provide internet access to our guests.
  • 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.
  • Using the Cisco WLC productively means a lot of hours spent implementing the system. It is not an easy device to jump right into.
  • The implementation of Certificates on the WLC device is also tedious and can be frustrating. This can be said for most of Cisco's products. I wish Cisco would come up with a better way to do this.
  • Upgrades of the software can be a pain when your WLC is configured in a High Availability Pair. Downloading the file updates, uploading the files to a TFTP server, having the WLC retrieve the files is an archaic way of doing software updates.
  • Positive impact 1. Our employees are able to move around anywhere in our 12-story building and have access to our corporate network. Employees are not tied down to an office and can easily move around to meetings and stay connected.
  • Because the equipment is so reliable, we do not have any unscheduled outages. Employees come in the building and connect without issues and have a sense that the wireless network "Just Simply Works."
  • When performing network maintenance, I usually have to block out several ours for our maintenance window. Upgrades sometimes do not go as smoothly as planned. This can be frustrating for the engineer.
Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers in my experience handles a larger quantity of wireless devices than the offerings from Ubiquiti. But that's not to say Ubiquiti products do not have their place. In my experience, Ubiquiti products do very well in small business environments. Also Cisco's tech support has some of the most talented engineers to help fix problems that may be encountered quickly. It may take a great amount of time to get the right help from Ubiquiti's engineers.

Do you think Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers go as expected?

No

Would you buy Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers again?

Yes

Our Cisco Wireless LAN Controller is well suited for an environment which on any given day can have upwards of 500+ wireless devices. These devices range from company issued laptops, cell phones and tablets, employees' personal devices and the devices belonging to our guests that are in the building. We use the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller to broadcast different SSIDs for company issued laptops, devices belonging to our guests and employees. This allows for a greater sense of security because we can control which devices we can permit on the network and reject the devices that we do not.