Cisco Small Business 500 Series AP 541N Wireless Access Point

Cisco had a lot of bugs with early firmware, since this is their first Linux based access point. However, if you run their latest firmware (1.9 as of this writing), the device is rock solid. I replaced some older 2.4GHz-only access points with the AP541N, and so far, it's been great. I'm running this in 5.0GHz mode (802.11a/n) due to local interference on the 2.4GHz band. Note that this access point, while claiming to be dual-band, has only one radio. This means that it can only operate one of the frequencies at any given time, so you can run it in 2.4GHz mode *or* 5.0GHz mode, not both concurrently. If you still have older 2.4GHz clients (802.11b/g), you will need to either run this AP in 2.4GHz mode, or run a second AP to support the second frequency.For advanced users, this device has a couple neat features. First, it can run a number of SSIDs concurrently, each with different security models, and associate them with VLAN tags. On our network, that enables us to run a "Guest" network with limited access to resources, along side our "Internal" network. It can also replicate it's config to multiple AP541N access points within the same network, enabling you to manage them as a single mesh, without having to purchase the complex (and much more expensive) managed wireless infrastructures. FInally, it runs the Linux OS on a Cavium MIPS CPU, and has a full SSH daemon and busybox shell environment, so I'm sure there's some creative modifications that an advanced user could run on this access point.

Wi-Fi connectivity is very poor. Had this product for less than 20 days and it was enough to had it returned. Connection drops and low throughput are among the bad side of this device. Cisco could have done a much better job on this Security Appliance.

Great product

I purchased this unit to replace a Linksys unit which has limited range. The Cisco wireless access point was expensive but their promotional literature claimed a much wider range than other units. The Cisco unit works for a few hours then fails even when you are close by. To get it to function again I have to disconnect the power supply and reconnect. Even when it is running the data transfers appear to come in bursts with large pauses between. I recommend that people avoid this product. Indeed the device is so disgraceful that I am never again purchasing a Cisco product. Absolute garbage.

This has to be the worst wireless product ever. I have two of these and they both have the same issue, and I've battled with them for about two years. This cannot be a Cisco product!. Firmware is at level 2.04, the last ever released. After a few days, sometimes a few weeks (but not many), communication is lost. I need to power cycle it to get it back up again. Sometimes it takes several power cycles. When I try and access it via html (web browser), a message is shown on the screen stating "Software image failed to initialize. System is running from backup image. Please upload a valid software image". I can still log in, but no amount of rebooting, resetting etc gets rid of this stupid message. Once it's back up and running, I go through the same cycle again, until the next reset is required. I must have done this 50 times in the last two years (no exaggeration). There are less bugs in my back garden than in this thing! There is one good thing to come out of all this. I unscrewed one of the antennas on one of the units and used it on my Netgear router which improved the Netgear's signal! I then launched the Cisco out of the back door in to a rain soaked night which made me feel better! Ap 541N Wireless Access Point

When this first came out apparently it sucked, but I deployed five of these in a clustered environment all with the latest firmware and they were incredible. Excellent signal, no reported dropped connections in over 3 months of use, excellent clustering support. Highly recommended for medium sized businesses.

We wanted to move to 802.11n in the 5GHz frequency and ended up going with two of these in a busy medical practice. I love the fact that I only have to configure one unit and the other automatically updates its settings. We have had no performance issues and are getting ready to purchase three more once our new construction is completed.I wish they made this with dual radio's so that I could run 2.4GHz for our guests and smart phones to use while the staff used the 5GHz with their laptops and tablets.

Despite being on 2.04 the WiFi is very poor - also Cisco recommends you place a Hotspot every 200ft. Heck my 20$ router from bestbuy handles more then 200ft.

Work as expected