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Cisco Wireless vs ExtremeWireless comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
Cisco Wireless improves productivity and stability, offering quick returns, cost savings, and reliability for various organizations.
Sentiment score
8.5
ExtremeWireless provides scalable, cost-effective solutions with 30% ROI savings, easy deployment, and excellent support for long-term use.
The best ROI is achieved over a three-year term.
The monitoring access and excellent support provide significant value.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
Cisco Wireless support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though service quality varies by location and engineer expertise.
Sentiment score
7.2
ExtremeWireless support is helpful but inconsistent, with slow response times and limited availability affecting user satisfaction. Ratings vary.
The technical support from Cisco is of high quality.
We received responses quickly after logging our problem.
The technical support from Cisco is good.
I rate their support as a nine because they are very helpful when we need assistance and they strive to help, even if not the fastest.
The technical support sometimes closes cases without resolution.
I would rate the customer service as a ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
Cisco Wireless scales well for larger users, but smaller organizations may face higher costs and infrastructure challenges.
Sentiment score
6.7
ExtremeWireless is scalable and adaptable for medium to large enterprises but may face stability issues at higher user thresholds.
The Extreme access points handle high-density connectivity needs very well, managing lots of traffic efficiently.
ExtremeWireless is suitable for companies with a user base below three hundred.
ExtremeWireless is quite scalable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco Wireless is highly stable, praised for reliability, minimal issues, and quick glitch resolution, making it a dependable choice.
Sentiment score
7.0
ExtremeWireless is praised for its stability and reliability, though some encounter challenges with firmware updates in high-density environments.
The performance is excellent, rating 10 out of 10.
They work well without failures.
I experienced issues during firmware upgrades, as some devices required a physical restart, which affects system stability.
The stability of ExtremeWireless is somewhat weaker compared to previous solutions, like Motorola before its acquisition.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Wireless users seek improved management, lower costs, better interface, stronger coverage, and enhanced Apple and third-party compatibility.
ExtremeWireless must enhance affordability, integration, security, support, and performance to improve competitiveness and meet small business needs.
Sometimes, integration with other Cisco products requires manual intervention for tasks such as firmware upgrades, which should be automated.
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.
In the long term, there could be a cost reduction because it does not require much maintenance.
I wish for ExtremeWireless to optimize the roaming capability between access points, especially for IoT devices.
They should develop more troubleshooting tools for system management.
There is some delay in firmware upgrades for access points.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Wireless solutions are costly with complex licensing, but offer high quality and features, making them a premium option.
ExtremeWireless provides good value with both free and paid options, despite medium-high pricing and substantial hardware costs.
Cisco generally is expensive.
The setup cost involves licenses.
The licensing of Cisco Wireless is competitive.
Each customer typically buys around 100 APs, which makes it quite expensive.
The pricing is favorable due to its flexible licensing model.
The pricing is a weak point for Extreme; it is very high.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Wireless offers security, scalability, seamless integration, and excellent support, making it ideal for diverse environments.
ExtremeWireless offers cloud management, strong security, seamless integration, and stability, making it ideal for security-focused sectors.
If one network fails, there is a link between different access points, which ensures network continuity.
The advantages of Cisco Wireless include helping me aggregate all the access points, managing one point connection for my users easily, controlling rogues, and addressing hotspots effectively.
When I install it, I can forget about it because there is no need for ongoing maintenance, and no other problems occur.
A single license can be used for on-premises, hybrid, or cloud, allowing for easy transition between solutions without losing investment.
The most valuable features of ExtremeWireless include the management through the one dashboard management with ActionCloud IQ, integrated with Site Engine.
The support from Extreme is very good and helpful.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
154
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ExtremeWireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 11.0%, down from 13.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeWireless is 2.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Wireless11.0%
ExtremeWireless2.0%
Other87.0%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

EvansEsezobor - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Seungho Yang - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced employee access with effective wireless monitoring and seamless roaming
Our use case for ExtremeWireless is to allow our employees to access the company systems The monitoring systems in ExtremeWireless have been very effective, and they are cheaper than other products. It provides better monitoring logs and detailed logs compared to Cisco Wireless. The most…
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless LAN solutions are best for your needs.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
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
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business76
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise74
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise8
 

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...
What needs improvement with ExtremeWireless?
There are concerns regarding the stability of ExtremeWireless. It could be an area of improvement, especially when compared to previous solutions such as Motorola before their acquisition. Another ...
What is your primary use case for ExtremeWireless?
We mainly use ExtremeWireless ( /products/extremewireless-reviews ) for the warehouse, specifically for the Zebra handheld devices and printers.
 

Also Known As

Cisco WLAN Controller
No data available
 

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)
St. Xavier High School, Americatel, Diamond Light Source
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless vs. ExtremeWireless and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.