Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers vs. Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
The Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 is a modular wireless controller with optional 100 Gigabit Ethernet (G) modular uplinks boasting seamless software updates for large enterprises and campuses, and security with ETA and SD-Access.N/A
Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Score 9.9 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers wireless LAN.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless ControllersCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless ControllersCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless ControllersCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Considered Both Products
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
We are moving into a more unified and centralized design, and the benefits offered by the 9800 compared to the above listed 5520 series and 8500 series of wireless controller is much preferred. The staggered upgrade option is again another feature much improved moving to the …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Easy to manage and centralized policy manager
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access Points and Cisco Meraki Dashboard
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Used all the Cisco 5504s, the 25, 06s s, all of the old legacy Cisco controllers. And on the competitor side, we did have a few sites that had Aruba and not a fan of that. Cisco is much easier to use, implement and to deploy.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
I've used Ruckus Zone director, so another controller. It's way more robust. There's more features and there's more devices that integrates with. So overall, a more comprehensive solution, I think.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Honestly, I haven't used a non Cisco wireless controller since about 2004 when I used to put autonomous APs in. It's the difference between eating broken glass and having a five star meal. I mean there's no comparison.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
From a wireless standpoint? Just any, well, we have the 9300 switches from Cisco. We also just went to the new firewalls that Cisco just came out. I forget the product name right now. So I like the wireless controller from a ease access or be able to configure better than the …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
More advanced and easier to stand up with virtualization.
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco is more industrial grade
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers is more modern, looks better, supports newer access points. Using different tags - site tags, policy tags, etc. is a nice way to configure different access point groups or locations. Also Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst Switches
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
We use Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers as standard in the company
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Ubiquiti WLAN is very much a consumer platform. It is not production ready, it is buggy, it has issues. It is cheaper than Cisco, but you get what you pay for. Aruba doesn't integrate nicely with our existing largely Cisco based networks, so when time came to replace AireOS, …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued), Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points and Cisco Catalyst Switches
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers can be easily integrated with Cisco Identity Service Engine. It is easy to configure policy sets for multiple authentication methods like MAB, dot1x, Centralized web authentication. Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers …
Chose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Recommended by technical professionals
Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco products are easier to manage and build off tools we have
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers are easy to manage, and easy operate. Also Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers devices can manage lots of Access Points at the same time. And they have lots of wireless features especially Cisco specific ones (application visibility control). Last but …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco Wireless LAN controllers provide solid performance and security. Configuration can be overwhelming but if taken in small chunks is not that difficult to accomplish.
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
These were extremely difficult to initially configure and get online. Once they were online we had no real issues with them. Cisco deployment has been much easier as well as having a much deeper configuration available. We also like the quick deployments we are able to do with …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Because of the features and flexibility it brings with it.
Business has less downtime since we implemented it.
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers the choice for on-prem deployments. We have experienced stability issues with other products such as meraki cloud wireless solutions (althouth it also comes from Cisco). Huawei is offering very competitive wireless solutions but they are yet to be …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Just Cisco. I didn't use any other product.
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
The newest one we're moving to is the 9800 series. And I just have a very limited experience with those. It seems to be better so far. We'll see more options I guess for configurability on the new ones as well, which is nice. And I like the way that the controllers pair …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
The integration with Cisco solutions are excellet, with WLC 9800 plus Cisco DNAC the troubleshoot are made easy, if you have 3D maps on DNAC, you can navigate on the place were the problem is marked and see how the signal are near it. All connections are stable and trustfull.
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
The unified one controller eases working against many in switch included.
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
We looked at Meraki, Ubiquiti and Aruba along with Cisco. At the time, all of the systems were decent well designed systems. Cisco was decided upon because of the depth of products, the support and recommendations of others. We are very happy with the system, and plan to …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco provides better security and ease of use with multiple solutions compared to other vendors. Cisco also has additional features which can support small businesses. It also offers cloud-based solutions at a cheaper rate compared to other solutions available. Another …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
The Aironet access points are used for employee WiFi access, and they integrate well with Meraki. They would offer a separate guest network, too, but the decision was made to physically separate the guest network, so even if a bad actor would gain access to the ethernet port of …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
To be honest I've never used any other WiFi products except Cisco. Even at home. I'm a firm believer in their product lines, durability, and stability. I've attended seminars about Juniper Mist, Aruba but nothing caught my eye that our Cisco products couldn't do.
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
We did not stack them with this as it was an a kind of isolated location. may be later we go for extended and advance solution but not now as we already deployed other competitor products. So right there is no chance for this changing in such large scale, but we will preform …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Unifi Controllers are not much stable in terms of connectivity and user handling, also Unifi controllers are installed on VM which is also a dependability whereas Cisco WLC is a separate appliance.
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
I would say the Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers would be a top contender as the best enterprise wireless controller that I have used. It has so many features and settings that can be controlled compared to other vendors. The newer Cisco 9800 is a different technology. At …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers are used to manage the APs and these APs can be connected to the switches, based on the ap power consumption these switches will be used and they are very easy to configure. And cisco switches are more compatible with the APs like configuring the …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
D-link wireless network solution is a good solution for small businesses. It has all the features of an enterprise-class wireless solution. However, it does not perform well with a high number of users and devices. Cisco Wireless [LAN Controllers] Solution, on the other hand, …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Point and Aruba Networks Wireless LAN (WLAN)
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
The feature set was better in Cisco wireless solutions as compared to Motorola Wireless and Ubiquiti. In cost comparison, Cisco was cheaper than Motorola but Ubiquiti was even cheaper, build quality and hardware specs were also better in Cisco, and we used the D-Link product …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
D-Link Provide Good services but day by day users are increased in our wireless network we need to be improved our network connectivities as well as we face issues in communication and face production lose so we decide to move on Cisco, we study and implemented in our …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
The Cisco equipment is miles better than the comparable Aruba Networks Wireless LAN devices. I would not quite put them in the same category as not all features are comparable. You also gain a lot of support on the back end by going with a large brand like Cisco, including more …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
We don't have an experience with another vendors in this segment; however, from the marketing materials and the demo we have seen, Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers were the best for our needs, as they provide a relatively easy deployment process and management process afterwards, …
Chose Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
I have known how to use several wireless LAN controllers and Cisco APs for a few years and I can say that this new line is really surprising and great. The purchase price is relatively low compared to the amount of wireless network control technology features available--roaming …
Best Alternatives
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless ControllersCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Small Businesses
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
Score 9.5 out of 10
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Score 8.7 out of 10
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless ControllersCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Likelihood to Recommend
9.7
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
6.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.1
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless ControllersCisco Wireless LAN Controllers
Likelihood to Recommend
I really like central switching. Central switching is converging all of the tunnels, fewer people can administer the product. It's much easier to scale, it's much easier to configure and it's much easier to get predictable results out of that. I have run FlexConnect before under AireOS. I'm proficient with it. But yeah, I think as a centralized controller it works very well. And I think as building redundancy with regard to not just HA-SSO but with an N plus one design, I think the scheme and logic and architecture of the platform is very well thought out and I don't know what use cases I would find it to be lacking. There's a few things when you drill into it, it actually is not that simple. AireOS I feel like was a lot simpler. I think the catalyst, how it breaks out the hierarchy of configuration requires each of these tags and profiles and policies and how you bring them together. Actually, even though they've decoupled a lot of these elements from how AireOS did it, I think fewer of those features, even though it was less extensible, it was not as easy or intuitive to deploy. So I think the intuition and how you actually construct a 9800, an entry engineer would struggle a lot more in a 9800. So I would not recommend the product if somebody did not already have a good foundation of network engineering.
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Setup is very quick as it is designed for smaller organizations. Of course, this comes with its own limitations, but it's really the question of what you need. If you can cover your office space with 3 to 4 access points, you got a pretty good alternative to the more enterprise-level of Cisco Wireless products, but you still get excellent throughput and signal strength.
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Pros
  • It is good kind of design with the multiple flow profiles and also location base whereby the long very, I think the traditional controller doesn't have this, so we need to have that specific. Every day is getting the same profile but this have a little bit difference. It's very good with the site tagging and also designing all the location-based requirements.
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  • 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.
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Cons
  • If possible, please add a column for WAP Name and WAP Model within the 2.4/5/6 GHz radio sections, as we have different models of WAPs in the fleet, and it would be easier to identify WAPs within a building.
  • We conduct digital exams for our students. If there is a way to identify clients and block traffic for applications like ChatGPT, it would be greatly appreciated. Currently, there is no filter for ChatGPT or generative AI.
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  • Configuring wireless settings is very confusing because various settings are scattered all over the interface in different tabs
  • Lots of settings use Cisco's technical verbiage rather than common phrasing, so it's confusing what a lot of settings will do and requires researching the meaning before modifying the setting
  • The interface could be easier to use to do simple tasks such as reboot an access point
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Likelihood to Renew
Despite common software and hardware issues this is still the best product on the market for large scale enterprise deployments. Cisco has worked with us extensively to reduce the amount of bugs in every iteration however new bugs are introduced or new incompatibilities always arise with major releases. Thus, while I'm hesitant to recommend the product it's still much better than all the other competitors such as Aruba and Juniper in the WIFi space. There is also extensive integration with DNAC/Catalyst Center and ISE in an SDA deployment. Recently there has been a number of critical issues with the controller software and Cisco has proved themselves to be incapable of timely troubleshooting and diagnosis. This has reduced our confidence in the product and it's current and future stability and maintainability. At it's current state the product is taking up too much of our engineering resources to maintain despite also paying for premium support from Cisco. As such I have reduced by rating as we are likely to look at alternative vendors for our long-term wireless management solution
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Although it is a very good product, support is easy and can manage by Level 1 support persons and downtime is too much less but still there is a cost factor matters which is consider by each organization. Furthermore, organizations also compare with other competitors so it is hard to pursue and defend the high prices.
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Usability
Very good product
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As I said before, the only thing we miss in our old model is the fact that the management interface never received an improvement in design. It has the same look and feels since it was launched. It's not that it's hard to use. It's just the case of could be modernized.
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Reliability and Availability
Due to our HA set up we have always managed to access our wireless networks without problems, when issues occur. When we have lost access to the GUI, due to internal network problems, console access is always welcomed and brings with it the normal Cisco CLI syntax. From previous versions of CLI, it is now a lot simpler and reflects other Cisco products, making it easier to troubleshoot and navigate when necessary.
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Downtime fear is the first fear which IT persons look and want to eliminate as much as they can but eventually you have to face it as nothing is perfect. Cisco Wireless Lan controller are feasible to use and easy to manage and other than this their issue reported are pretty low so you can get the best up time. now it also depends on scenario as well as environment.
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Performance
Monitoring is very good Seamless integration with Cisco ISE RRM configuration very easy. It has REST API support IOS-XE is very powerful operation system. Multicasting and mDNS features are really good and very easy to configure. It supports Pyats and Genie so getting constructed data from python script calls very helpful.
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Cisco Wireless Lan controller are feasible to use and easy to manage and other than this their issue reported are pretty low so you get the better uptime. if your get the uptime then it means its a stable product in your environment. Product performance also depends on the product management and Cisco Wireless Lan controller management is easy so you can get the great output.
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Support Rating
When it's a config issue, TAC is usually useful. If it's some bug and BU needs to be involved, it might take forever.
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As usual, the support from Cisco's TAC (Technical Assistance Center) is lacking. Granted, they always get the job done, but the amount of lead time on a non-emergency is enough to make you just handle it yourself. The good news is that if you ask for Cisco's assistance and forget about it, they'll jump on by the time you've forgotten where you were in troubleshooting it and have it fixed for you.
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Implementation Rating
You need to understand wifi basics
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Originally, when we deployed our first controller it was on a very limited basis. We only deployed it to our administration building and our High School. It was pretty straight forward. Because this was new to us we leaned heavily on our Cisco partner to assist us. With our last upgrade, we upgraded the controllers, added redundancy and expanded the building count along with new SSID's and restrictions. It went much easier, but again, we did rely on Cisco TAC and our partner to clarify and assist as needed. Having already been familiar with the product help tremendously.
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Alternatives Considered
We are moving into a more unified and centralized design, and the benefits offered by the 9800 compared to the above listed 5520 series and 8500 series of wireless controller is much preferred. The staggered upgrade option is again another feature much improved moving to the new model and management through DNAC
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Not sure why "Ruckus WLAN controllers" is not listed above but that is another major WLAN controller solution I've used in the past. Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers provide the most flexibility when it comes to designing a large WLAN deployment. They also have some of the best reliability and TAC support out of all of the other vendors.
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Scalability
There are different vesrions for different requirements, there's HA as well.
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Cisco is a brand name and people trust on it. if any one thing about the networking then Cisco is among those brand which is count as trusted brand and people rely on it. Also it support is good so people can use it. Cisco Wireless Lan controller are easy to use and manage so it requires less effort.
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Return on Investment
  • I mean, return on investment is really hard to quantify. Being in a healthcare scenario, it definitely has very good uptime, very good performance. It's easy to manage, fairly trouble free with a few issues not withstanding. There's really no income based off of it, but it does allow our nurses, nursing staff, our physicians to take care of patients better and more reliably and enables a lot of communication options that we wouldn't have had we not had that controller.
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  • We have had our [Cisco Wireless LAN Controller] 5508s for a very long time now and although they are getting dated, they have earned us our money's worth with consistency, stability, and ease of use. Users have minimal wireless complaints and when they do seldom are they WLC-related.
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