Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers vs. HPE Juniper Access Points

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.

In a high-density K-12 Deployment, Juniper outperforms most vendors. Hardware is superior in terms of durability, appearance, and functionality. The AI Cloud Controller is 2nd to none in monitoring performance and self-diagnostics. AP tools enable easy identification, testing, and troubleshooting of APs. Overall, when switching from a Cisco Meraki to Juniper, there is no comparison. We immediately saw a performance and reliability improvement.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Mist APs are really good at self-adjusting power and channels.
• Mist APs provide quality bandwidth to all users.
• Mist Radius meets my authentication needs for production users.

Incentivized

• 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

Incentivized

• I wish there was a mobile app that allows configuration and health status checks
• The MIST UI could use some improvements - some things take more than 1 click to access
• Marvis doesn't impress me. I ask it questions and sometimes it doesn't respond or understand

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

It is a well rounded AP that is easy to connect, has great insights in to who is connecting or why did they disconnect or fail to connect. I like being able to see the switch and port number an AP is connected to. This is helpful especially when they are connected to other brands of switches

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

I've used a variety of other APs and WLAN systems. Juniper provides an outstanding product and their support is top notch. The Mist portal is intuitive for most admins that have an intermediate understanding of WLANs. The product is very reliable, and they provide value in line with the cost of the product and service. Ultimately, it really depends on what you need. Want something low cost, but don't require 24/7 support? Unifi probably suits you. Have a small team, need something beginner friendly? Meraki is the way to go. Do you have unique deployment needs, and are already in the Juniper ecosystem? Juniper APs make sense for you.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• With the lower cost of the aps we have been able to have more dcoverage
• We have a better overall view of wireless performance

Incentivized