Comparison of Cisco and Ubiquiti Wireless
Written By: Neal Mulcahy and Randy Mcleod
The landscape for managed Wi-Fi has a broad range of vendors and offerings. In this blog post Neal and Randy discuss offerings from two vendors on different ends of the spectrum: Cisco and Ubiquity.
A Look at Cisco by Neal:
Benefits
- Support
- Product Maturity
- Included Tools and features
Drawbacks
- Cost and Licensing
Let me be transparent—I’m a Cisco fan. I’ve implemented Cisco wireless solutions at the enterprise level and there are things about the Cisco gear and software that I truly like.
Cisco is king, but to get the king you need to buy the castle. I don’t think there is a wireless competitor out there whose solutions match Cisco in cost. This price has some perks though, like Cisco Technical Assistance center (TAC, for short). Cisco TAC is a solid support group and when you need a live hand off because you’re hard down, you can always get one.
They’ve got some software goodies for us as well. Cisco CleanAir is a tunable interference management and performance optimization feature set built into the wireless LAN controller (WLC) and supported access points (APs). It uses things such as dynamic channel selection and transmit power control to avoid co-channel interference and “right size” wireless cells.
Integration with tools such as Cisco Prime and Cisco ISE are powerful for managing larger networks. Cisco is an industry leader that makes good on their reputation.
A Look at Ubiquity by Randy:
Benefits
- Cost effective
- Intuitive Design and management
Drawbacks
- Limited Support compared to competitors
I see the pricing for Ubiquiti and I think, “What’s the catch? How can it be so much cheaper?” The answer is fairly simple; they do not spend money on advertising, and they do not have direct phone call support like Cisco and other networking vendors. What this means is that they are able to put all of their funding into making great products.
The real cost savings for the customer comes without the need for licensing. You do not need to purchase costly licensing like you do with Cisco and other networking vendors. If you are looking for access to phone call support when you have an issue, Ubiquity may not be the answer. If you have a networking team that can handle a majority of wireless issues, Ubiquity may be the answer for you.
In early 2020, IndyConn replaced an outdated Cisco network with Ubiquity for a Long-Term Care facility. Their support staff would receive daily calls about wireless issues and needed to find a solution that was cost effective. The idea was to replace all of the networking gear from top to bottom. This included 47 wireless access points, 1 gateway, and 12 switches. We have had no issues with this implementation and everyone at the facility is extremely happy when it comes to their wireless experience.
IndyConn can help our customers and clients find the product that best fits their technical needs and budgetary requirements. Contact us today, 833-INDPNDT (463-7638) for your estimate.