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Cisco Wireless vs D-Link Wireless comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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
Ranking in Wireless LAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
154
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
D-Link Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
17th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 10.0%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of D-Link Wireless is 2.4%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Wireless10.0%
D-Link Wireless2.4%
Other87.6%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

EvansEsezobor - PeerSpot reviewer
Group IT Head at Euracare
Has enabled centralized user management and improved wireless access point aggregation
To improve Cisco Wireless, the ports on the access points are all 100 Meg, not 1 gig. We have not gotten a gigabyte interface of about 1,000, but the controller we have is just 1 gig. We would prefer if we could increase the controller to a 10 gig interface because we want to connect our controller to a 10 gig interface, which currently limits us to 1 gig. When we want to move higher capacity data via wireless, it limits us to 1 gig.
NadirShahzad - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Wireless projects run smoothly with more access point support and competitive pricing
D-Link Wireless offers more supported APs to the WLC with the default license compared to other brands like Cisco. With Cisco, only four to five APs are connected with the default license, but D-Link Wireless provides more flexibility. Local support in Pakistan is necessary for those with limited budgets, creating a reach in the market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco’s product has made a big difference in our plants."
"Authentication has played a big role for us, and it has given us mobility."
"The Guest feature is pretty good."
"For the most part, it's worked well for us."
"The mobility that it provides is really helpful; it's one full network of about 15 APs and they're all connected together, and the users can move seamlessly between them."
"This product has a long life and you don't have any issues with it."
"Security and support are important factors when looking at this kind of solution."
"I find this solution easy to configure and use."
"For small businesses, this is definitely a product that I recommend."
"The system simplifies network management."
"This is an affordable product that offers good performance, which is why it is popular with our customers, and it offers good speed and bandwidth."
"D-Link is a good product that is quite affordable and I recommend it."
"The initial setup is super straightforward; you just add them and in a few clicks, they are ready to go."
"The setup process is very easy."
"We have 200 to 250 users and the solution can scale without any problem."
"It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"Management and monitoring features need to be improved and the inclusion of a cloud-based solution."
"It's expensive because a lot of the controls come with licenses."
"The monitoring system has room for improvement. All the pieces of data are collected but it is not always easy or possible to present it the way you like it."
"Access Points are unable to handle huge traffic and if one user start downloading other user bandwidth speed is affected."
"The current issue with Cisco is I don't have centralized management."
"The cost model is expensive."
"However, I wouldn't typically recommend Cisco Wireless."
"I had to reboot the controller a couple of times to force correct EAP key exchange."
"D-Link Wireless’s stability needs improvement."
"The only issue is with the controller visibility of the devices connecting to the network."
"We've had issues with the 150MG and 300MB dongles. The 300MB works okay but the 150MB is not working well for us."
"D-Link Wireless should include the 'cleaner' feature similar to Cisco's APs. This feature reduces signal interference with access points."
"The stability could be a bit better."
"The solution's performance could be improved."
"Sometimes, the solution needs to be restarted."
"In future releases, it can keep improving on countering the new patterns of security attacks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is a little higher for Cisco Wireless than all other vendors. Cisco should work on improving the pricing because there are some other vendors out there in the market which may have the same features or equivalent features that Cisco has at a lesser price."
"Users have to pay a yearly licensing fee for Cisco Wireless."
"The pricing is high. It could be cheaper."
"As far as I know Cisco is very competitive, price-wise. Talk to your third-party vendor. It all depends on the company size - how many employees, how big the building is. If it's wireless, and you have only 50 employees but you're using a large building floor, in that case you need many access points. But if you have 50 employees using two or three rooms, then you probably don't need it and it's going to be high density, so there is a different design. So you need to talk to a subject matter expert. Talk to them and design accordingly."
"It is an expensive solution."
"It might be around $100 for a license. The internal ones are far cheaper than that."
"The price of Cisco Wireless equipment is expensive."
"Its licensing is hard to understand."
"The product is affordable."
"D-Link Wireless is cheaper than Ruckus or Cisco."
"The cost can range from $100 to $400."
"This solution is more affordable than others on the market."
"There is no licensing fee for the solution."
"D-Link pricing is very competitive when you consider other OEMs."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the pricing an eight out of ten."
"D-Link Wireless' price is the same as Aruba's. You need to pay one-time costs for the product."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless LAN solutions are best for your needs.
913,630 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
President at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Mar 24, 2015
Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions
Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
11%
University
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business79
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise74
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...
Which is better - Ruckus Wireless or Cisco Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and ma...
How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?
On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three hours, the basic framework can be set up. Step-by-step instructions are availabl...
Which wireless solution would you choose - Huawei or D-Link?
Huawei wireless is a strong and solid product that has a lot of features - and for all that it offers, it happens to be very cost effective. As a wireless solution, it is simple and its user interf...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for D-Link Wireless?
D-Link Wireless is notably more affordable than Cisco and Juniper. It suits SMB needs without the financial burden of purchasing additional licenses for extended APs.
What needs improvement with D-Link Wireless?
D-Link Wireless should include the 'cleaner' feature similar to Cisco's APs. This feature reduces signal interference with access points. Working on this functionality for APs and WLC could be an i...
 

Also Known As

Cisco WLAN Controller
D-Link WLAN
 

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)
Metropolitan Public Defender, Mission Motorcycles
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless vs. D-Link Wireless and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,630 professionals have used our research since 2012.