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Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued) vs. Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)

    Score6.2 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

    Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/ACisco offers wireless LAN.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco 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 Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    94%
    Would buy again
    46 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    80%
    Delivers good value for the price
    4 Answers
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    41 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    47 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    42 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    44 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    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
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Cisco Meraki MR Wireless Access Points
    Score9.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.3
    (13 ratings)
    9.4
    (66 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    6.4
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access Points (discontinued)Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    Cisco Aironet 1550 Series Access Points is very useful for outdoor locations that are more exposed to the wilderness or the weather, which provides uninterrupted wifi access during high winds and bad weather. It also is useful for hazardous locations that are prone to danger or wildlife. Unfortunately, it would not be appropriate to get a Cisco Aironet 1550 Series Access Point if it is only needed for basic wifi use, or indoor use, as the extra features and price would not be necessary.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    I believe that Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers are well suited for the enterprise environment for medium sized to very large companies. While there are smaller WLC appliances for smaller sized businesses, a case can be made for simpler or more cost effective wireless licensing solutions (e.g. Cisco Meraki). Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers are extremely well suited for dense deployments like stadiums, arenas, hospitals, theaters, and large offices because of their ability to support a large number of APs with a very diverse technology feature set.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • Outdoor mesh bridging of access points brings significant cost savings to many of our production facilities. Deploying mesh APs is a significant cost reduction over trenching conduit to connect remote areas via fiber.
    • Cisco APs are extremely resilient, with a failure rate of below 5% in some of our harshest environments.
    • Cisco APs have the intelligence to identify wireless interference sources with Clean Air technology
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • The cisco wireless controller allows for very granular access to internal and external systems.
    • The system allows for allowing special needs uses (medical, security, guest) very easy.
    • The system allows for various levels of bandwidth to a variety of users.
    • The security, flexibility and ease of use is phenomenal.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • In the facilities where we operate, we had to put a reinforcement on the ceiling to avoid problems due to the weight of the access point.
    • On the appearance, it could be smaller and lighter.
    • As for the hardware, I think it's incredible, I don't see any points to improve.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • 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
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    There is no other better option than this. It's the line between the commercial Cisco grade AP's and industrial ones.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    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
    Discontinued Products
    Everything clear and easy to use
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    Cisco
    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
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    Reliability and Availability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    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
    Discontinued Products
    The Cisco Aironet 1560 Series Access Points served their function well. They were reliable, provided decent speeds, resisted the elements, and provided a good investment. The only downsides were mostly appearance which doesn't matter that much. However, I believe that the tech in the access point is not future proof which is why I did not give it a nine or ten star rating.
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    Cisco
    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
    Discontinued Products
    Initially I had a problem with the regulatory and channel selection, it was a bug on the AP as it was fairly new, solved by TAC on engineering release, and since then it has been performing flawlessly.
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    Cisco
    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
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    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
    Discontinued Products
    Making the decision to use Aironet is more related to the type of scenario that you have. We chose Aironet because we mainly manage all the network internally and already have Cisco products to integrate with Meraki which is a good option if you are starting from scratch.
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    Cisco
    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 the AP, they'd still not see any company traffic.
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    Scalability
    Discontinued Products
    The software of the Cisco Aironet 1560 is highly scalable, the software is very powerful so that the APs can be customized to the maximum and achieve the best performance of the network at the wifi level. The use of it is very easy for people with low knowledge.
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    Cisco
    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
    Discontinued Products
    • With only a few DOA's or failing devices, the AP's are of very high quality.
    • We expect them to run stable for many years, which is why our initial investment will be an intelligent choice compared to installing a cheaper product.
    • Although the AP's from Cisco is cutting-edge technology, the 802.11ac standard will be considered legacy in a few years, meaning that its a balance to purchase a well-designed product that won't outlast the tech that it provides. Imagine having an investment in a large fleet of high-quality 802.11b AP's 20 years ago. Although they would still be working flawlessly due to their good quality, the bandwidth would probably be unacceptable to most modern consumers.
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    Cisco
    • 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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