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Cisco Wireless WAN vs Fortinet FortiExtender comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiExtender
Ranking in Wireless WAN
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless WAN is 9.3%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiExtender is 7.9%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Wireless WAN9.3%
Fortinet FortiExtender7.9%
Other82.8%
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

HassanBilal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT Infrastructure & Helpdesk at LCI Pakistan
Solution supports extensive connectivity but faces occasional coverage challenges
Cisco Wireless WAN has room for improvement in WiFi coverage. Sometimes, their coverage is normally good, but at the same area where the access points are deployed, people face continuous disconnectivity issues. These kinds of issues come over time, and we need to do troubleshooting, but they get resolved. This is a performance-related issue, and I think they have to work on that.
SyedQuadri - PeerSpot reviewer
IT director at Sajaya Medical Care Services
Has supported multi-branch connectivity effectively and still has potential for deeper feature utilization
Centralized management via FortiManager for my organization is very useful and a must-have. I have used Sophos Central as a manager and Fortinet manager as well. I believe Fortinet Manager has more in-depth features compared to Sophos or some other manager. The threat intelligence integration in Fortinet FortiExtender helps me to meet my industry's compliance standards. Fortinet FortiExtender brought many benefits to my organization. It was a very useful solution for us to have such a service.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Our primary use case for this solution is setting up a wireless source for our clients to connect to the VPNs and our data centers."
"In my opinion, the most valuable features of Cisco Wireless WAN are smart roaming and the WiFi coverage, and the number of users each device can support."
"Cisco Wireless WAN's most valuable feature is it is robust."
"I am impressed with the tool's packet tracing so that connection with the devices is always consistent."
"Cisco wireless is stable, easy to use, and simple to configure, and they have an outstanding GUI."
"Stability is one aspect that I find very valuable."
"Reliability and visibility in the product are most valuable. We are able to see client performance, signal strength for clients, and things like that."
"Cisco's technical support is good - you get instant support, and most of the engineers are good and highly skilled (though not all, so some cases can take longer)."
"With Fortinet, it's cheaper and we don't sacrifice quality."
"The ease of the setup and integration into the entire Fortinet solution is seamless."
"The integration is easy and it works as a normal internet connection."
"You don't need to have two different vendors to interoperate and get into comparability issues or inter-operability issues."
"The most valuable feature is that management can be carried out from a central point, as a result, the Fortinet Firewall's management is centralized, making things easier."
"The most valuable feature will be that it works."
"The solution is extremely user-friendly."
"Management can be carried out from a central point."
 

Cons

"The solution has all the features we need, but it is very expensive."
"Azure needs work. We use it as the wireless controller of Cisco. It's a bit buggy."
"The cost is one of the higher in the industry."
"We found the initial setup to be a bit complex due to the CLI commands."
"We did have issues with the product that made us concerned about the overall stability."
"The cost and support should be improved, and there should be support for the 6E standard."
"There are a number of areas for improvement in Cisco Wireless WAN, including sensitive applications which face issues on wireless stuff and difficulty troubleshooting."
"The CLI type is not very user-friendly."
"The engineering of the solution has some negative points, especially in terms of troubleshooting. It's difficult to troubleshoot when we have a problem. It's not like other products like Cisco or Palo Alto which make troubleshooting much easier."
"The Fortinet FortiExtender should be more suitable for outdoor use. Currently, the vehicle model can be used outdoors, but there are no dedicated outdoor devices."
"What most of my clients are telling me is the price is a problem."
"We would like to see some improvement in the price for 5G models, as they are currently very expensive."
"They could improve the remote console server feature and make it more user-friendly for more users."
"The support could be faster and more responsive."
"I would like to see them make it smaller in the next release so that it has a smaller footprint for mobile clients."
"In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco's pricing is quite costly and should be cheaper for both licensing and hardware."
"The price of the solution is expensive. The license is priced based on the number of APs and controllers used."
"There is a license that is needed for the use of this solution."
"The price is expensive."
"The price could be better, but it's been okay. You must pay license fees for each access point connected to the controller."
"The cost of Cisco Wireless WAN is expensive. There is an annual subscription to use the solution."
"The tool is expensive."
"Cisco is more expensive than other solutions."
"The solution is not that expensive."
"I've only used the open-source version of Fortinet FortiExtender, but I know that it has some features that require you to pay for a license."
"I'm not sure what the cost is. However, I anticipate that the purchase price will range between $2,500 and $5,000."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless WAN solutions are best for your needs.
902,417 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
22%
Marketing Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Media Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Wireless WAN?
I think the pricing of Cisco Wireless WAN must be reasonable at present.
What needs improvement with Cisco Wireless WAN?
Cisco Wireless WAN's interface could be simplified in the future. Simplification would make it more helpful to see how the user is connecting. We are able to see the connectivity details, and we al...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Wireless WAN?
We are still working with Cisco products, and I am supporting the Cisco devices. We are working with Cisco switches, routers, and we have guest Wi-Fi now. Regarding Cisco Wireless WAN, I am not tha...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiExtender?
The price for Fortinet FortiExtender deserves the highest rating.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiExtender?
In future updates of Fortinet FortiExtender, I would definitely want to see AI. They are working on the AI feature, but so far it is a great, amazing product.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiExtender?
Since I was having FortiManager and everything, Fortinet FortiExtender was suggested by the vendor. I went through it and appreciated the product. There are plenty of things we are using Fortinet F...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Brunel University London, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Chartwell School, Children's Hospital Colorado, Cisco Live Milan, City of Biel, City of Mississauga, Dundee Precious Metals, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Erickson Living, Goldcorp, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS)
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless WAN vs. Fortinet FortiExtender and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,417 professionals have used our research since 2012.