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Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller vs. Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points (discontinued)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AThe Cisco 5520 Series Wireless LAN Controller is a highly scalable, service-rich, resilient, and flexible platform that is ideal for medium-sized to large enterprise and campus deployments.N/A

    Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points (discontinued)

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/ACurrently supported by Cisco, but no longer sold, Cisco recommends migration to the Cisco Catalyst 9100 Family of Access Points, which offer greater performance and flexibility.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    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 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    12 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    11 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
    Score9.5 out of 10
    WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.1
    (13 ratings)
    7.0
    (28 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.6
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.2
    (7 ratings)
    6.8
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco 5520 Wireless ControllerCisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    At this point the Cisco 5520 Wireless Controllers are end of life as a Cisco product, so I would not recommend them to anyone looking to purchase a wireless controller for an enterprise. However, many people are still using these, and they do work reliably, even if they are a bit long in the tooth now.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points is very well suited for large enterprises and high-density environments. It is not well suited for high ceiling buildings like warehouses and storage places because of low antenna gain. In our main office, it is working very well. For around thirty or so wireless devices this access point works very well and after forty or so wireless devices it starts to suffer.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • It has the ability to manage all Cisco access points that we have, regardless of the model. The limit is 1500 pieces of equipment.
    • The WLC enables roaming functionality in the localities, this helps with collections, wireless IP phones, and access with notebooks.
    • The WLC manages the quality of the "air" and "signal" of the 2.4ghz frequency, avoiding noise and interference.
    • The WLC has an interesting feature of visibility of the traffic of the internal network.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    • They are rock solid in terms of reliability (we rarely have to replace them).
    • They are easily managed from the controller. It's easy to push new settings out, like RF profiles, etc...
    • They are fairly easy to install using the included mounting brackets.
    • They seem to be compatible with pretty much everything, although occasionally we will have roaming issues with Apple devices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • We have had some issues with access points losing their configurations and going offline. This is not a common issue and we are not entirely certain if it is a fault of the controller or the individual APs. That said, the controller does not appear to retain the knowledge of the offline AP which can be a management headache.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • CleanAir - Put this technology into all the APs.
    • GPS Tracker - I can't understand why only the Cisco 1570 has this option as well as larger Cisco 3800 APs. Why can't this be in all APs so they can be easily mapped in Google for positioning and later plotted for the coverage zone.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    This equipment from Cisco has been dependable and we are able to easily continue to add access points or make changes easily to the Wi-Fi password settings.
    We have been operating this equipment for a number of years and it does not give us any issues.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    Because until now I haven't had any issues or cases where I needed to create a ticket with Tac from Cisco related to their performance or availability. They have a small size that permits or allows you to install it in each place that you need to mount it, their design is small and appropriate for every kind of office.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    Overall the usability is ok. The centralized management reduces complexibility and offers bulk features like adding access points to specific groups which automatically applies linked configurations.
    On the other hand the GUI is very outdated and some features are not displayed correctly on new browsers. Also automation possibilities are very limited compared to the new 9800 series controller.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Lately we had less issues. Most probably because we reduced the number of Wireless LAN controllers. So less trouble for upgrades as well. We don't have any access point in stand alone mode. It's something I don't suggest, unless it's just for a small office and not for a larger company with different sites.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    This access point does not usually randomly shut off. It can't happen but it's generally due to a power over ethernet failures which would could be considered a user error.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    Performance wise [Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points] are among of the best pieces of technology we have on premise. I don't say that lightly, we have a lot of cool tech. But if you consider how many users are connecting to these day in and day out without a single blip when they're downloading large files, roaming to new AP's or needing a boosted signal at a far end of the range then these are unmatched.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Cisco
    Cisco support is always ready to support and engage in any problem or issue. Starting from the implementation support, troubleshooting any software issue or hardware. Their engineers are engaging whenever we ask for support, keep following up with us, and troubleshoot any problem till we find a solution and be satisfied [with] the service.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    I believe that there is always room for improvement.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    Just take your time when setting up the HA pairs as those can be tricky. Also take your time setting up AP groups and make sure they are on all the SSIDs you need to be on.
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    Make sure to get a professional wireless assessment before purchasing AP's. That way you will only purchase what you need and know where the wiring infrastructure will need to be to streamline the installation and tuning process.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco Identity Services Engine is well integrated on Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller because the WLC supports a lot of authentication methods and security protocols (such as PEAP, EAP-TLS, Captive Portal redirect). They perform very well with ISE. Cisco ISE is able to manage centrally the AAA sessions from all the WLCs keeping a central point of management for wireless infrastructure.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    D-Link Wireless network solution was being used previously in [a] few areas of our plant and it was working well with [a] low number of users but as the company grew, and user base started to grow we started seeing hanging, disconnection, and very low-performance issues in our wireless network. We replaced the entire network with Cisco Aironet Access Points and since then the issues have been resolved and [the] wireless network is working with great performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    When it comes to deploying the Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points in locations around the school district it has become easier as you get used to putting 4 screws in the mounting plate to the bracket and then slide the access point onto the bracket.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • [It provides] centralized management.
    • Implementing the [Cisco] 5520 [Wireless] Controllers offered us a huge improvement in administrative time over our previous Cisco 3850 deployment. Being able to see all of our APs on a single controller as well as centrally manage them is a great benefit. This also removed the need to deploy specific equipment in different IDFs throughout our Industrial locations and instead only requiring switches with Power Over Ethernet (POE) capability.
    • Wireless performance has improved with the deployment of our 5520s, which allows our plant operators to do their jobs more efficiently while on the move.
    • Having three Cisco 5520 Wireless Controllers provides tertiary redundancy for our wireless networks. The solution is elegantly simple. Preventing downtime is, obviously, a profound part of our supply chain capabilities.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • There are cost savings in buying a separate WLAN network controller because the 1850 Access Point already has this integrated feature.
    • It allows for remote management and saves time on administration.
    • The return on investment is achieved in a short period of time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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