Cisco Enterprise Routers Room for Improvement
Hafiz Umar Farooq
Founder & CEO at ITGAT
You cannot configure internet policies or other options on Cisco routers. If you have a very limited budget, you can't afford two different pieces of equipment, and you can't afford yearly licensing.
I would like Cisco to launch a small business router that has firewall capabilities as well. It would be a great initiative for small businesses.
I would like to see two additional features: a remote access VPN with the MFA, multifactor authentication capabilities. At the moment, the ISR series only supports MFA, but not every company likes to use that tool. I think Cisco needs to consider MFA for the remote access VPN and should incorporate other MFA solutions as well.
I would also like there to be some firewall features included in the routers. I'm not talking about a full-fledged firewall feature, but a limited set of features that can be used on the small and medium-sized enterprise level. These two features would be a great initiative.
I would also like to recommend the licensing feature. Previously, the Cisco licensing model was either a perpetual or annual smart license. Now, Cisco has totally shifted over to the smart licensing feature, and perpetual licenses are about to be eliminated from Cisco. The licensing feature is a bit costly if we compare it to other vendors. The licensing features of the F5 are perpetual, but the support has periodic renewal. The license to use Cisco features like a firewall or the routers are actually yearly based and not perpetual.
The lead times are extremely high. Normally, it's six to eight months initially, and they prolong it to up to one year for new device delivery by Cisco.
If you say you need a brand new router, switch, or fiber from Cisco within one month, you will never get it, unless some stock is readily available with your vendor. Otherwise, it will initially take six to eight months, and then that will be prolonged to one year. This is what we're experiencing with our clients right now.
AB
Andrew Banda
Head Of Information Technology at Zambia National Building Society
It only breaks if you're not using an up-to-date version of the iOS or are not doing upgrades. Also you are not refreshing your hardware. With Cisco, when you buy it, you know that for about five to ten years, you will not have issues. These assets, you refresh them and every five to ten years, you should be getting new equipment that is supported.
View full review »CR
Cees Rhebergen
Technical Consultant at KPN IT Solutions - Trusted Services
The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required to be made by making it cheaper.
At times, our company needs to exchange the equipment because it is not supported anymore or because it is out of service. When it comes to Cisco Enterprise Routers, and you look at the cost of ownership, there is a need to consider the fact that my company undertakes projects that are on systems that should be running for more than fifteen or twenty years, which is an area that is always difficult. If you must exchange the equipment because it is no longer supported, then it would be nice if Cisco provided discounts for the new products, especially if you stay with the same supplier. In our company, we may use Cisco, Dell, or Aruba, especially in scenarios where Cisco does not allow or fulfill our requirements. They should be hardware exchange contracts when dealing with equipment from Cisco, Dell, or any independent vendor.
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Enterprise Routers
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Enterprise Routers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Malith Chandrasekara
Head of Enterprise Business at VSIS
There are no new features required. Cisco has a huge amount of configurations and features built in, however, we use less than 10% of those features. The 4000 series that I am using does not have routing and cloud connectivity, but it is my understanding that this is now included in the 8000 series.
Cisco has acquired other companies, and due to this, there are many API-based integrations. There should be one platform that will enable a smooth integration. For example, Cisco acquired ThousandEyes, AppDynamics and Viptela. These are ideal solutions for big companies in terms of WAN connectivity. Cisco needs to ensure that there is a smooth integration mechanism in order to ease this process or point of integration.
Cisco should also ensure it remains on par with the world technology roadmap as it has been to this point.
View full review »
Mais Zahlout
IT Manager at Manara University
I don't think I can improve the tool. For that, I would need to learn all of its features and how to use them. But for now, I am satisfied with the tool because it provides me with what I need. In short, I don't have any idea if I want any improvements in the solution.
Sometimes, I find it hard to learn how some features of the router work. So, these are the issues that may arise when a user might not have knowledge about the product.
View full review »
RezaPradipta
Sr. Network Managed Service Product Management at Hutchison 3 Indonesia
For the Enterprise Router, especially for Cisco, we want Cisco to have a less simple product and a more scalable product, so we don't have to choose from so many series. We'd like one device fit for many use cases. The scalability must be simplified.
The lead time is pretty bad. It's worse than other products. We'd like them to speed up their speed of delivery. It can take almost 300 days at this point in order to get the devices.
They are pretty expensive devices.
View full review »
Mohamed Bayoumi
Network Engineer at Al-Futtaim Group
The main issue is there is a backlog in terms of getting any hardware. You might have to wait between eight months and a year to get what you need.
We'd like to see some better UI. It would make it easier for configuration purposes. A graphical user interface would really help.
View full review »
Arif-Kundi
CEO at BazTech
I would like to see them improve at least their sales, where they guide their customers on the capabilities of their products.
Perhaps it's not so much a Cisco problem as it is a system integration problem where they have business partners who come forward.
I believe they lack uniform training or that it is not enforced, because we found something lacking in designing a solution and then implementing it because, in one or two instances, we thought these guys were clueless.
I would like more training and documentation.
I would like to see the network control section, where we talk about data control and network control, then when we talk about a software-defined network, the support should not be native within routers and even switches. Their software-defined paradigm requires significant improvement.
View full review »
MOHAMEDELSHERIF
Senior Technical Consultant at International Turnkey Systems - ITS
We need more cloud functionality and more intelligent routing features.
They need to improve cost efficiency. It's an expensive product.
View full review »
John Bayangos
Lead Infrastructure Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
We haven't really had any issues. They have recently upgraded the technology and have recently improved many things. Most of what we needed they recently updated. We aren't missing any features.
The solution is expensive.
View full review »SB
Srinath Beldona
Principal Engineer IoT Network Architecture at Vodafone Idea Limited
Over time things have changed where Cisco has not invested in improving the orchestration and simplifying it for people who do not want to get into the details. Cisco has not gone into that focus. Technologies such as MPLS and VPN, have become very difficult to use for many service providers. This is where you have the admission of software-defined networks which brought in a lot of simplicity when it comes to routing and functionality.
What Cisco Routers needs to do to improve is what they have already done with the SD-WAN solution. It is a very, elegant solution, but even though it is a pretty comprehensive solution, one of the problems with the Cisco solution is many customers do not use all the features. They must have a category of customer premises equipment, specifically for the managed service providers and enterprise networks that can be much more cost-effective from an IT perspective. The configuration can be simplified at the GUI level. It should be easier because any telecommunication provider only has an enterprise network nowadays.
When I am running an SD-WAN as an enterprise, I have features that are capable of finding an alternate path when there is latency. I have yet to find a solution to integrate them. For example, if I am a managed services provider for an SD-WAN customer, how do I make sure that this feature is automatically taken care of by the service provider side by monitoring its own option. This managing from the service provider side in the SD-WAN solution does not exist, it is all only static provisioning right now. When you are doing the original provisioning it happens, but dynamically when the network changes due to quirks in the network, how does it actually handle it. If there was this kind of features it would help Cisco to become the best in the process. You need to have a more solution-specific understanding.
The parts management teams have to come up with features that will benefit the service provider and the enterprises if they want to be the best.
View full review »
ArunSingh7
Computer Operator at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
The product's pricing is an area that is too fuzzy to deal with, in my opinion, making it an area where improvements are required.
The product's deployment phase can be made slightly better and more intuitive.
PF
Patrick Farayi
Head of Planning at ZODSAT
The solution's price could be better. Also, they could provide combined features for total security, including access points for Wi-Fi. In addition, there needs to be an integration with SD-WAN.
View full review »
MohammedThousif Ansari
Technical Lead at Tata Communications Ltd
There have been multiple issues when updating iOS to Cisco routers.
View full review »AR
Amalesh Roy
Senior Assistant Manager at Beximco
When there is a problem, it hampers the scope of work. So if they could reduce the response time, it'll be helpful to us. In addition, the UI could be more user-friendly.
View full review »RG
Rajkumar Gottiparthi
Vice President at Vodafone Idea Ltd.
While the commands are easy to understand, and you will find a mixture, if you put a question mark on them then it will create problems.
The improvements will improve our company management and our system compatibility.
View full review »
Sumanth Myneni
Architect at PepsiCo
The overall price of Cisco Enterprise Routers should be reduced, it is expensive.
View full review »
Suman Ghimire
Senior Security Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
In my opinion, Cisco is not granular if we compare it to Juniper. In terms of the access lists and some other parts like if we delete one ACL, most of the parties are gone on the Cisco side. But in Juniper, I can delete fifty access lists.
All the rules and policies are also granular and are based on the UNIX operating system or Linux operating system. Cisco needs to consider those in the market because Juniper is doing well. Some granular functions are required because they have all of the routing protocols with almost all the features.
View full review »
GlennCamilien
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
The cost is the biggest drawback of Cisco products. They say you'll never get fired for buying Cisco, but it's going to cost you.
JG
Jorge-Gonzalez
Field service manager at reduno.com
The initial setup can be a little bit difficult. They should try to make it easier to set up for new users.
View full review »PR
reviewer1664805
Information Technology Network Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The solution could be more stable and secure.
View full review »
Kuldeep_Singh
District Manager at RailTel Corporation of India Ltd
The solution could be more secure.
View full review »
EmadAttia
IT Manager at Oberoi
The configuration needs improvement. Most routers, like HP or Aruba, use a UI interface. Those solutions are similar and uniform. It's easier for us compared to Cisco because with Cisco you are not using normal commands. They need to enhance the UI to make it more usable.
View full review »SM
Sammy Mukuna
Network Admin at Naivas Ltd
For deployment, you need a tech-savvy individual with extensive CLI experience. Occasional troubleshooting may require remote access, which could pose a minor challenge. The centralized management system simplifies patching, deployment, and configuration tasks, making it easier for tech-savvy personnel to support and maintain the equipment.
SW
Shimelis Wossenie
Chief Information Officer at Dashen Bank SC
The main area for improvement with this product is with the price, which is currently very high compared to the rest of the market.
TM
Thapelo Modise
Solution System Engineer at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
The solution is difficult to implement without a broad knowledge base.
Subnetting for large organizations is complicated because you must understand the company hierarchy before starting to subnet. The process can be difficult so it helps to have experience or rely on other team members for advice.
View full review »SJ
Saqib Jawaid
Senior Consultant at Circles Consulting
Their support has room for improvement. The regional agents are not that great.
The devices can be a bit of an energy hog. We would like to see a more durable power supply system because being in a third world country we have frequent power outages and it takes a bit of time for our generators and stuff to kick in which then leads to power surges and whatnot. Even with the proper power management system, it can also affect the devices themselves.
View full review »
ADEOYEAFOLABI
Head of Network And Security at BLUEPRINT BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
The solution is expensive and difficult to manage.
View full review »AR
ARNOLD RAMONDET
IT network engineer at CONCEPSYS
For our company and for our customers, this solution is very expensive.
View full review »
Djurre Woudstra
Senior Network Engineer at a legal firm with 201-500 employees
The licensing structure is very convoluted, and the cost of the licenses includes a whole bunch of stuff that you'll never use.
Sadam Kherisat
Technology Consultant- Networking Services at STS
The solution could be priced better because sometimes it is expensive.
View full review »
Dhanushka Chaitanya
Manager - Enterprise Networking Solutions at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Cisco could improve by reducing the delays in receiving physical devices.
View full review »
SameerBali
Network Architect at Syriatel Mobile Telecom
The price could be lowered.
View full review »FV
Francis Vieira
Network telecommunications administrator at Comtel Technologies
Sometimes, it can take a while to get used to a new version or additions which are made and this involves us going to the note and doing a lot of reading. There are many changes of which we are not aware. The technology should be addressed, the new protocols that are incorporated in a new version. A new way for registering the equipment might be needed. It can be hard for us to deploy a new version, as we lack the knowledge for its use.
The installation process should be simplified, since it is quite complex in a new version.
There are simply too many changes taking place. While we are still in the process of learning how to use a new version, another is sent.
French language capabilities should be added. It is hard for us to adequately express ourselves in English.
SM
Simbarashe Mazorodze
Solutions Architect at Terrific Tech
In terms of room for improvement, I think that there is a need for additional administration. We have seen other products, such as the Cisco Email Security Appliance and the Cisco Web Security Appliance, now have a web-based interface. We would like to see this in the routers, as well. It would make our administration easier.
Considering the increase in data that is being processed across networks, I think that increasing the CPU size to boost processing power would be wise. People are now trying to do more analytics, so this would be helpful.
I think that it would be better for analytics if the local storage, on the router itself, were increased. This would allow us to store more data for analysis as we are trying to secure our network.
View full review »WM
Wilberth-Monge
Infrastructure and Security Officer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
When we buy new hardware, since we are in Latin America, we have a very long wait in terms of getting the devices. We might wait six to eight months for delivery once we buy it.
View full review »ML
Mary Lala
Cyber security specialist at Liquid Telecom
The cost is a bit high.
The security of the solution could be a bit better.
There are some complex aspects of the solution during the initial setup.
View full review »
Handell Watson
CEO at Watronix Information Technology Ltd
The security could improve for Cisco Enterprise Routers. I understand there's a security appliance that is separate, but in terms of the router, there can be improvements made to prevent unwanted users from accessing the router or trying to manipulate the traffic that is passing through it.
View full review »AL
Ali Liaqat
Executive at FFC
It would be better if Cisco Enterprise Routers were more secure.
View full review »KS
KumarSain
Senior Network Security Engineer at Rackspace Technology
Some of the features could be more secure. For example, firewall features could have better security. There are some routers that come with this feature. It can be implemented with ACL, but there is only one destination source with IP based filtering.
If it is possible then it would be content-based. It is available in the new routers. If we were to purchase the new Data Centre Series router, it would include this feature.
View full review »FO
Farzin Oramipour
Engineering Manager at Chalish Co.
Cisco could update or release a new GUI. It needs a more extensive and comprehensive GUI, specifically for people who don't like using CLIs. I don't mind CLI but, I know based on my experience that not everyone prefers it. Unfortunately, Cisco promotes only to use CLI.
I am teaching Cisco up to CCNP level to my students, but up until today, I haven't been able to take the Cisco exams because we are banned from doing so in our country due to sanctions. We cannot even take the Cisco exams out of the country. I wanted to travel to Turkey to try, however, I was told I wouldn't be recognized even if I pass the exam.
View full review »EK
EdwardKabara
Head of IT Department at Silver Springs Hotel
It would be great if there was a graphical user interface or something to interface with the router.
If I only have one LAN port in which I want to connect more than one device, I have to buy an add-on card so that I can have two LAN ports. The smaller devices and low-end routers have about four LAN ports. This solution is a high-end device but has only one. It would be preferable if they offered more LAN ports.
I don't know whether the solution can be cloud-managed. When I am away from work, it would be great if I could still have access and manage things, check the configuration, etc. Right now, I don't have a way of monitoring things if I am not at my desk.
I need a feature introduced where I can be able to tell if my provider is giving me constant capacity. The solution should be able to alert me to when the capacity fluctuates so I can go back to my provider and tell ask them why they are giving me less capacity than I am paying for.
View full review »AA
Abderrahim ASSAHLA
Merci De Confirmer Senior Vice President at Winxo
When compared to PEPLink, Cisco Enterprise Routers are less flexible, and you cannot have more than one user.
The scalability could be improved.
RA
Riasat Ali
Group Head of IT at a maritime company with 501-1,000 employees
Prices could be better.
I would like to see better reporting and also integration with other products.
View full review »RT
RebeccaTome
CEO at Reynolds Global Solutions
The pricing could be improved.
ER
ErrelRotinsulu
Network Engineer at WEAVE
It would be better if Cisco had a User Interface (UI) that we could configure from a web browser. Right now, we only have a Graphical User Interface (GUI). I would like to see a new UI with a dashboard for configuration in the next release.
View full review »KR
reviewer1750290
SW Engineer at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
I would like it if Cisco Routers had a longer lifecycle. That's what we need. We don't want to renew or implement a new model. One model should be available for at least five years. This seems impossible nowadays.
View full review »
Ahmed Hawana
Network and Security Engineer at IDSC
Cisco could provide more information about their routers to allow customers a better understanding of their solutions.
Cisco Enterprise Routers could improve by having some more advanced features.
View full review »AS
reviewer1392462
General Manager at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
We are evaluating and considering moving to SD-WAN, which is the latest one.
As we are expanding, we require more coverage.
View full review »GA
reviewer1487148
Deputy Director at a sports company with 201-500 employees
It's not really about how Cisco can be improved, but the utilities around it. For example, Fortinet has a good firewall and useful auditing tools with it. It also allows establishing centralize infrastructure, just by installing a Fortinet client software, VPN software, at the client end. However, we know that Cisco is also providing such a product in the name of AnyConnect. It is a concern over the cost aspect because of the budget we have available, Fortinet is much cheaper than the Cisco product, including the functionalities it provides. Cisco routers are an expensive product. Regarding Cisco usage in the future, it depends upon the increase in the immigration checkpoints. If our government decided to open 10 more immigration checkpoints, and other sites related to those, it would require more procuring of hardware, including the number of routers to support this.
AH
reviewer1083318
Network Infrastructure Program Manager at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
Currently, we use the 4000 series of the solution, however, there were issues with the 1900 series.
The solution needs to offer some security features in a future release.
View full review »TP
Tshepo Phuthego
Graduate Trainee at HNE
I want the ability to create interfaces for the MAC addresses.
The price has room for improvement.
View full review »RK
Renaud Katel KINZONZI MALEKA
ATM Systems Expert at a aerospace/defense firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
While scalability is available, it must be paid for. The licensing and price could be improved as the equipment purchased may come with very basic commands that require the consumer to pay for a more expensive license for a greater array of functions. The licensing policy can sometimes be very complicated.
All other aspects of the solution are fine, as in the past it was only possible to use certain commands to configure the solution, but now there is also the option of using a graphical interface.
View full review »ER
Edgar Eduardo Ramirez Orjuela
Electronic Engineer at SkyNet Colombia
It can be very expensive, sometimes, to do the jump to the next router for your needs. It will be great if you can buy a variable router and then upgrade or enable features as you grow. Otherwise, it can become very expensive to have robust equipment.
In the next release, I would like to see more free SD-WAN features and vertical solutions.
View full review »NS
Navee Srichaiyanont
IT manager at IRPC PCL
I would like to see more boundaries and better performance.
View full review »GF
GoumouFerdinand
Security Engineer at SOCITECH S.A.
High-availability management needs to be improved. When one switch fails, it will ask you to come back and use a different one.
If they can negate or reduce the modem delay, that would be great.
When we are performing maintenance, it takes too long to reboot the device.
View full review »
Anil Ergunsah
Managing Partner & Technical Consultant&Trainer(CCIE#29761, CCSI#31865) at IT Expert
Cisco Enterprise Router's price could improve, they are expensive.
View full review »MR
Muhammad Ahmer Riaz
Senior Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
If Cisco can give you one license and allow you to use all the features, that would be the best thing. We are using it only as a voice gateway, and there are other options available, but we need to procure licenses to use those options. We can use it as a security device, or we can use it for connecting the LAN side, but for that, we need all those licenses. They can provide one license and allow you to use all the features. This is my recommendation for Cisco.
It is quite costly. It would be great if they can reduce its price.
View full review »IP
Igor Pigariev
Cyber Security Consultant at Ukroboronprom
I think that it would be better if they can create menus and instructions in the Ukrainian language.
The dashboards and control system are in need of improvement.
I would like to have functionality added for cybersecurity.
View full review »
Khairul Bashar
Manager at Beximco
The DNS system, which is very important, has not yet been implemented. All new Cisco switches are Power over Ethernet (PoE) switches that are DNL supported.
The price could be improved.
In Bangladesh, we do not have any expert-level support. We are having many issues implementing the DNS system.
View full review »
Igor Bobrov
Head of Cisco Department at MUK
The scalability of this solution needs to be improved because the amount of data gets larger and larger as does the network. This should be a part of the site share equipment.
In the next release, I would like to see cloud management and cloud security.
Also, for our customers, if they could have all of their tools in one place for monitoring and configuring their equipment, and it should be very secure.
View full review »
StaffordSlater
Co-founder and Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The solution's cloud management capabilities could be better. Its smart licensing process needs to be simplified as well.
View full review »GS
Germain Safari
Information Security and Compliance Manager at RSwitch
Cisco Enterprise Routers could improve by making their solution more user-friendly. Currently, users need to have extensive knowledge of networking to use them because there is only a command-line interface for the configuration. They should add a graphical interface to allow junior users guidance and more flexibility when doing the configuration.
View full review »DC
Debendra Chaudhary
Network Administrator at OM Networks Pvt Ltd
I want to get some advanced features. I want to use advanced features such as SD-WAN or Viptela and vManage or vBond. However, these are not available in Nepal just yet. The supports could be better in Nepal.
The automation capabilities need improvement. Right now, everything is too manual. We'd like to really see much more automation availability.
The scalability could be better.
View full review »BT
Eric TOURE
System & Network Administrator at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The product would be more scalable if it could operate with other brands.
View full review »DM
reviewer994422
Sr. Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
We don't really see any places where Cisco is lacking. They are quite reliable.
A specific client may have specific needs. There may be features they need that Cisco may not have. Each organization is unique in that sense.
It would be nice if Cisco had the capability for packet capture.
Depending on the customer, the initial setup could be complex.
Technical support could be slightly more responsive.
View full review »
SYLLA YOUSSOUF
Responsable technique at Smart Techies
We would like to see an improvement in the price of this solution. It is currently more expensive than other comparable products on the market.
AO
reviewer1798977
Projects Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Performance is one area that could be improved. The stability of the devices is great, but performance-wise we find that upgrading the memory or changing the device entirely is sometimes necessary.
JD
JULIO DURAN
Consultor en Redes y Seguridad at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It would be good if Cisco Enterprise Routers could improve their integration with other vendors. For example the AGLP protocol is supported by Cisco and not by any other vendors.
View full review »MN
Manish Nalawade
Owner at it logic
With Cisco Linksys, we need better pricing. Cisco is an expensive product, much more so that other products, such as those by HP.
The Cisco Switches and Routers price should be reduced.
We need better pricing and support.
For Cisco Routers, we need better pricing, better implementation, and support.
View full review »JC
JucoCo
Specialkonsulent at a government with 201-500 employees
We would like to see the security improved.
View full review »
Loris Signoracci
Senior System Engineer at Itworks srl
The solution is not easy to manage for people that do not have the experience.
View full review »RA
RobertoAlonso
Network Administrator
An area of improvement would be the way the licenses are managed because, at the moment, you pay for a license for each router as opposed to paying a once-off cost.
View full review »CA
Chikwado-Attama
Cloud Support Engineer at Tek Experts
The pricing of the solution needs improvement.
View full review »PA
reviewer1050828
Lead Network Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The support for SD-WAN technology is not mature yet.
I would like to see the setup time reduced.
View full review »
it_user180294
Infrastructure Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I cannot see any, maybe more new technologies that we unknown.
View full review »AA
reviewer1125813
IT Support Team Leader at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I would like the routers to have the same support and duration of support as the switches.
View full review »it_user1362003
Senior Network Engineer at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Cisco has a lot of problems with the graphical interfaces used for management.
View full review »KS
reviewer1441461
IT Consultant at a marketing services firm with 11-50 employees
I haven't really delved deeply into the configuration, so from the router's point of view, I can't provide much of an opinion. From the switches perspective, I feel there isn't much that can be done because again, I have delved into the configuration.
When we set up a LAN and we use Cisco, it makes life easy. If instead, we buy it from the distributor, it comes provisioned with the licenses. We just plug it in, and the network goes up, except when we need to do a VLAN.
The only other thing we struggled with from time to time is when we were configuring access points through a controller. The challenge we had was because our client used a firewall and they used a proxy, which gave us many challenges in relation to the configuration. But other than that, it went well.
The price should be reduced.
Our clients are mainly government and they want to implement CCAT6A and they come up with extremely stringent conditions. It made it difficult for us to even bid because they want gold certified partners. It became a bit tricky for us to submit the bids.
View full review »reviewer941463
Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Recently, there seems to be a lot of people who are leaning towards Juniper CLI, which is easier to pick up.
View full review »it_user1065
Senior Manager of Data Center at a integrator with 51-200 employees
Few cons which can be improved on:
1) Pricing structure when it comes to Borderless Networks and PIX firewall routers
2) WAN integration can be made easier
3) Integrated VPN not present in all series
View full review »
GG
reviewer1571142
Network Consultant at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
The solution could improve by having multiple features inclusive of the router, such as a free firewall and VPN. Additionally, it should be a generic box that can act as a router, firewall, and switch.
View full review »AS
Alkesh Sharma
System Engineer at Rythmos Ind Pvt Ltd.
They take too much time to reboot or restart. Whenever we hard reset them, they take time. Cisco should resolve this issue.
View full review »IL
reviewer1080873
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
An area for improvement would be the power supply unit. This product also tends to have a short life cycle, which could be better.
View full review »WW
Wesley Wang
DevOps System Engineer at Monash University
The price could be better.
View full review »it_user133842
Infrastructure Connectivity Engineer at Reputable Service Company
Cost is very expensive, it needs to be reviewed for affordability by SMEs. They are on the high side for some SMEs who are willing to deploy high standard IT solution powered by Cisco but most of the time, they are not able to afford Cisco SME products.
View full review »SC
Simon Chaba
ICT Manager at a aerospace/defense firm
Nothing that I can think of. If you want to improve, you have the choice to upgrade the hardware.
View full review »JH
reviewer1453902
Chief Information and Communication Technology at a government with 10,001+ employees
Compared to equipment by other vendors, such as Check Point, the physical size of the units is bigger. A smaller footprint would be an improvement.
We sometimes experience delays when a router is processing that requires us to reboot it.
View full review »it_user1185396
IT Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
The capacity of the equipment should be improved. Cisco sells expensive equipment, but it does not really have greater performance compared to the price paid for it. So, we're paying very high prices for medium — or low to medium — capacity equipment.
One thing that I would like to see is a more user-friendly dashboard. Really it generally needs easier capabilities to do basic management of the product and the system for users who are not Cisco employees or representatives.
Though it is not directly the product, their technical support services can be improved. We have not had many problems with the product, but we pay for support and they have not really solved the issues we submitted to our satisfaction. It is the same with Cisco iOS. We know that when we install the next version, we have come to expect that something will break. Testing upgrades should be improved as well.
View full review »RA
reviewer842748
Senior Manager at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The cost of this solution is a little bit high compared to others.
Some of our customers have asked that this solution have a 10G connection.
View full review »MR
reviewer991773
Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The price could be better. This product is already at the end of life stage, but if they continue to make this kind of product, they should make it affordable. All the new releases come with little flexibility and are expensive.
In the next release, it would be helpful if they put some features like antivirus inside the router.
View full review »it_user1164
Infrastructure Expert at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
To configure them one need to have skills and knowledge,If the router gets a fault its very hard to repair.Its expensive to purchase compared to other companies routers.
View full review »
it_user1143
Network Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Works great never had any problem.
View full review »
FH
reviewer1482162
Assistant PSSE Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I would like to see support for software-defined networking.
The routers could be more secure.
View full review »ME
Muhammed Eslami
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
These routers are not easy to use for non-professional users, so simplification is something that would improve this product. Having a well-designed graphical user interface would make this product easier to use.
View full review »CA
Chikwado Attama
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It comes with 3-1 default box and other parts. You have to buy additional lamp parts, which adds to the cost if they could, but affect the number of parts with the default configuring.
View full review »it_user1083
Manager of Operations at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Some of the enterprise routers, like the Cisco 7600 series routers, are costly and only large enterprises can afford them. An additional console logging facility does not come with some of these routers. Web based applications are more vulnerable than CLI interfaced console. Console logging by using CLI interface, like Putty, is desirable.
View full review »
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Enterprise Routers
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Enterprise Routers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco Enterprise Routers Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
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