What makes Cisco AP's better than cheaper alternatives?

[brian_case]

I have priced several different brands , and found that the Cisco AP's cost three times as much as those from Linksys, etc. What makes the Cisco ones better?

Thanks

Brian

[yantisj]

While some lower priced APs might look like bargins, Cisco APs provide a lot more flexibility and options. For one, they are usually better constructed and more tolerant of the environmental conditions. In-line power makes them easy to deploy, and I've found their range to be superior to anything provided by home networking companies.

On top of the physical aspects, cisco provides a lot more on the software side. They can handle multiple VLANS, ssids, and security options. They also provide QOS and numerous features to ease management. Overall, they just provide many more options for larger networks. I would suggest demoing a few different units first if you are going to do any sort of large scale deployment.

[dhickey]

I would like to add reliability and management to the topic. I have a Cisco accesspoint I deployed almost 3 years ago now and the only things I have had to do with it is upgrade the software. I have had no trouble calls except one I induced. I now have about 10 1220's deployed using per user vlans and they are working great. I recently finished a site survey and was also amazed at the range I was getting from the access points.

The filtering is pretty awesome also. On my guest Vlan all they can do is check email and surf the web. If they authenticate they can do much more. The guest vlan is not broadcasted so you have to know how to get connected to it. Otherwise the SSID that is broadcasted requires users to authenticate to our radius servers.

Cisco's support is awesome and the forums here are a big help also. The documentation lacks a little as far as the more advanced configs, but if you search these forums you can usually find the answers.

Power over ethernet is nice, you can do it with the power injector (which I believe should be included with the cost of the AP, but is not) or you can use the powered switches which is really handy. The different antenna choices helps you select the correct antenna for the coverage you need.

As far as mangement side, the logging capabilities helps track down many different problems (user authentication, associations, etc.).

I hope this helps some.

Don Hickey

[jjknuckle]

Pinto, Mercedes.