Cisco WAP4410N Wireless-N Access Point – PoE/Advanced Security

10 Review to this product

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  Michael Aarons
  October 6th, 2009 on 7:34 am

  Rating

  I recently purchased two of these Cisco WAP4410N WAPs. The goal was to help my brother-in-law cover his large home with good quality wireless. Based on my experience doing previous WAP installations, my guess was that is would take between three and six WAPs to full cover his large house (which has lots of brick and steel) with good quality coverage. I was impressed that by strategically positioning the units I was able to cover the entire house with only two of these WAPs. The coverage consisted of three floors (one was a finished basement).

  The setup of these units was simple, the firmware is stable, and configuration was straight=forward. Since they were setup they have worked flawlessly and required no further attention.

  The only thing a bit unusual (for those used to Netgear, Linksys, etc.) is that you have to setup a Cisco account (no charge just register online) to be able to download firmware, etc. This ended being unnecessary because the firmware in the unit was up-to-date.

  If you’re looking for really good WAPs that support Wireless-N and have lots of configuration options (e.g., Mesh, Multiple SSIDs, etc.) I highly recommend this unit. It has a slightly higher price than other (consumer units) you can buy, but it definitely deserves the “business-class” label that Cisco gives it.
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  H. Delgado
  November 30th, 2009 on 3:27 pm

  Rating

  Worked right out of box, after simple setup. It is setup in an office environment with a Microsoft domain. I do recommend this item.
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  James G. Robertson
  January 30th, 2010 on 3:25 am

  Rating

  I replaced my 6 year old access point with this model because I wanted the security and reliability that I found in the router from the same series that I already have. My previous access point had either been hacked or failed and I was concerned about security. The setup (after updating the firmware) is very clear, the security features are excellent and easy to configure and the performance has been excellent. The range is much better than on the old access point and there is the reputation of Cisco behind it. I had been disappointed with some earlier Linksys products and support (from 2003 & 2004) and had replaced all of them years ago. Since Cisco took over and then created this small business line, those problems appear to have been eliminated.
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  Gregory G. Smith
  January 31st, 2010 on 11:43 am

  Rating

  [Full disclosure: I'm an employee of Cisco Systems, but I don't work with these products]

  I purchased this access point to upgrade our home network for Wireless N replacing an ancient Wireless -B AP, and it provides a number of
  
  extra features that some might find useful. So far it’s worked great right out of the box, including service to Droid, iPod, iPhone, MacBook, and Wii.

  1) Easy to configure options via web-based interface.
  
  2) Gigabit Ethernet uplink
  
  3) Support for Power-over-Ethernet – was able to wall mount this in a high, out of the way location eliminating one box
  
  in our living room. [Required a PoE switch, of course].
  
  4) Dedicated access point – not a combined router+AP (I already had a router). These are harder to find.
  
  5) Supports multiple SSIDs so I can have a dedicated “home” [private] network and a “Guest” network (not a requirement for most people however).
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  J. Whalen
  February 13th, 2010 on 3:48 am

  Rating

  Great WAP, I’m using it to extend the coverage provided by my Cisco WRVS4400n router. Once upgraded to firmware 2.0.0.12 the interface is a snap to deal with. The only configuration option I had an issue with was the AP Mode option to select. I was under the impression that I should use the “Wireless Client/Repeater” mode, but that would not work with my router whatsoever. A bit of research on the Cisco forums found another user who suggested using the “Wireless WDS Repeater” mode on the WAP and that worked like a charm.

  One other issue, when using the Site Survey to find the wireless network to pair with my WAP would often lock up and then reboot on its own. I finally gave up trying to use this option and simply typed the MAC address of my router in manually and the same for the WAP’s MAC on the router and had no issues with their connecting with each other. Obviously, make sure you match up the SSID and other security options on both the WAP and router or they will not connect to each other successfully.

  Check out my review on the WRVS4400n v2 router if you’re looking for a solid performing 802.11n gigabit ethernet router.
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  C. Vaughan
  March 9th, 2010 on 9:40 am

  Rating

  Yes, this is billed as a business-class wireless access point, but it’s great at home, too.

  This is a major step up from the Motorola B/G wireless access point I had been using, for several reasons:

  1) Maybe it’s the 3-antenna system, but I have great wireless coverage throughout my entire house now. The computer in the furthest corner of the house used to get only 1 or 2 bars (and typically operated only at 10mbps even though it was connected at G speeds) with my old AP, but now every computer in the house sees the full 54mbps throughput

  2) My old access point, while it supported 54mbps G network speeds, connected to my switch via a 10mbps ethernet connection! So even well-connected wireless clients felt slow. This new switch connects at gigabit speeds to my gigabit switch, so all wireless traffic is much faster than before

  3) It supports ipv6!

  4) Great flexibility if you want it – this thing supports multiple SSID’s (visible or hidden), VLAN and QoS (which I don’t use), PoE (which I don’t use), even support for a RADIUS server to help with security if you wish (which I also don’t use). If you buy more than one you can use them as repeaters.

  It’s not that much more than your average household-grade wireless access point, but seems well-worth it. My only gripe? You can give the AP a name on your network, and in theory connect to its management console via http://, but that doesn’t work for me. I can connect if I use its IP address, but on my network all clients at home get their IP addresses via DHCP… so figuring out the IP address the first time involved a bit of guesswork. I’m not sure why I can’t connect via its name, but that hasn’t been a blocker for me – only an annoyance. And my network topology isn’t exactly what most people use at home so maybe that’s at fault (I use a Windows 2008 Server edge box with all other clients connected through that). I am running firmware version 2.0.1.0 (the latest as of now).

  It supports N speeds, although the manual admits it’s N-draft speeds, but I don’t have any N(-final) devices to know if it supports N standard devices or not.

  I would recommend this product.

  Update 3/23/10: My wife recently bought home a new Lenovo laptop from work, and it connects at N speeds to this AP with no problems. I’m jealous of her ~130mbps connection! (all of my machines are still ‘only’ connecting at G speeds). So any doubts that this works at N speeds is now erased in my mind – and only made me happier that I bought this great AP.
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  Robert Cozzi
  March 15th, 2010 on 1:35 pm

  Rating

  I’ve purchased no fewer than 5 Linksys Wireless Routers in the last 3 or 4 years. After a few months of use, they would stop working about ever 36 to 72 hours. The solution is to unplug them, count to 30, then plug them back in. This is not a useful solution. I then read the fine print in their manuals and they said “Unplug this device at night when you go to bed” (or something similar). Clearing linksys wireless routers are not intended for full time use.

  So I talked with a friend, and he suggested I install a Switch along with a Wireless Access Point from Cisco (the parent company of Linksys). Their equipment is commercial quality, more expensive, but it works.

  So I picked up this product along with a Cisco 10/100/1000 8 port switch and connected the switch to the Cable Modem, and the Wireless Access Point (this product) to the switch. Turn them on and they’ve been running for several months now 24×7 with zero down time.

  The range of this product is, so far, the best I’ve seen.
  
  The connection is consistent and can handle all 5 of our in-house PCs and numerous hand-held devices without any issues at all.

  It is expensive, but it works, whereas the Linksys “home wireless routers” tend to get over heated after a few months of use and have to be power-cycled every 2 to 4 days. For me, I prefer to turn it on and leave it on 24×7.

  Great product.
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  goaliefight
  April 6th, 2010 on 10:10 pm

  Rating

  The new Web GUI is excellent, and the support for VLANS and multiple SSIDs make this the best entry level business access point on the market. It also has 802.11n, PoE, and a Gigabit interface which is simply icing on the cake. It is very stable. Cisco/Linksys has redeemed themselves with this Access Point. I have currently installed 4 with plans to get several more in the coming months.
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  Joel Newkirk
  April 20th, 2010 on 7:26 am

  Rating

  I’ve worked with a variety of business-class routers and APs, and the WAP4410n is one of the, if not the, most reliable I’ve used. No lockups, no slow-downs, no failure to route packets to ethernet, none of the issues that plague so many consumer-grade (and more than a few enterprise-grade) devices lately. (not to mention the vast number of APs and routers offering 802.11n but not gigabit ethernet, so that 200mbps+ wireless is limited to 100mbps talking to anything not on the 802.11n – whose dumb idea was THAT???)

  Be aware that Power-Over-Ethernet is a bit trickier than represented. Cisco support will suggest using a linksys POE adapter, but DON’T DO IT. The unit they recommend is two pieces – one injects power into the four wires unused for 10/100 ethernet cabling, and the other strips that power back off and provides a 12v plug that jacks into the AP. This is NOT how POE is supposed to work, and it also limits the AP to 100mbps ethernet. (be aware also that – based on my experience – Cisco tech support for this unit seems to be the same clueless script-jockey tier 1 phone attendants that support the consumer-grade linksys products)

  The proper POE solution uses something like the Phihong midspan 20w POE injector (POE20U-560G – purchased it and AP from buydotcom, which was the lowest price on the AP here at Amazon when I ordered) – this uses phantom power to send 48v over four wires that ALSO carry data – you can run the cable well over 200ft with no issues, and you can attain full Gigabit ethernet speeds at the same time. The Ethernet port on the WAP4410n is 802.3af compliant so it properly supports POE on that port, there’s no need to strip it back out and have a separate power plug into the router.

  Just make sure you use a proper gigabit midspan POE injector (if using POE at all), and everything works beautifully. (Oh, and if you’ve not read it elsewhere, understand that you will usually NOT be able to jack a PC directly into it to set up, you’ll need them both on a switch or hub since the ethernet port on the AP does NOT support auto-crossover correction)
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  Robert E. Neer
  April 24th, 2010 on 6:44 pm

  Rating

  I needed to consider replacing my WAP54G when the asociated range extender (WRE54G ?) burnt up. I also have a n-class wireless ethernet bridge on the TV so an upgrade to an n-class access point seemed like a good idea.

  The unit came up as a 54G router, a firmware update is required to get it to boot correctly. Rest of the setup thru the web interface was easy.

  The power cord is a little shorter and i was not able to place the unit quite where I wanted it (no POE for me yet) but the resulting signal strength even without the range extender was much better at my 54G laptop client. With the bridge placed as it was 216 Mbps thru it. (I have the 1 Gbps small business class router/switch).

  So great signal, more bandwidth than I need (roadrunner is still only 12-15 Mbps). Good product.