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// CISCO AIRONET · VENDOR BULLETINS

Cisco Aironet: what “end of support” actually costs you

My Cisco access points still work. Cisco says end of support. What have I actually lost? The dates, the milestones, and the honest answer.

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  • ● Vendor sources linked
  • ● Dates checked 27 July 2026
  • ● Independent — we sell no vendor’s kit

Independent, and dated. 365 Techies is an independent IT firm. We are not an authorised partner, reseller or agent of RUCKUS Networks, Belden, CommScope, Cisco or Cisco Meraki, and we have no access to their support entitlements on your behalf. Every date on this page comes from the vendor’s own published notices, linked in the source column, and was checked on 27 July 2026. Where we could not verify something from a vendor source we say “check with vendor” rather than guess.

Cisco Aironet: the dates, and the seven milestones

Cisco publishes more lifecycle milestones than anyone else, and the gaps between them matter. An access point can be past End of Software Maintenance — no more bug fixes — while still receiving security patches for years. Then that stops too. Those are two different risk positions and they deserve two different decisions.

Dates checked: 27 July 2026. Vendors move these. If you are making a decision on a date below, open the vendor link in the source column and check it yourself — then tell us if it has moved and we will correct this page.

Access-point lifecycle — end of sale, end of support and the last software release each model will ever run. Checked 27 July 2026.
ModelGenerationEnd of saleEnd of supportStatus todayLast supported softwareVendor’s replacement
Cisco Aironet 1700 (AIR-AP1702I)802.11ac Wave 1 (Wi-Fi 5)30/04/201930/04/2024Support ended——
Cisco Aironet 2700 (AIR-AP2702I/E)802.11ac Wave 1 (Wi-Fi 5)30/04/201930/04/2024Support ended——
Cisco Aironet 3700 (AIR-AP3702)802.11ac Wave 1 (Wi-Fi 5)30/04/201930/04/2024Support ended——
Cisco Aironet 1830 (AIR-AP1832I)802.11ac Wave 2 (Wi-Fi 5)Check with vendor30/04/2027Ends in about 9 months——
Cisco Aironet 1850 (AIR-AP1852I/E)802.11ac Wave 2 (Wi-Fi 5)Check with vendorCheck with vendorCheck with vendor——

Sources: RUCKUS Hardware AP end-of-life table · Cisco end-of-sale and end-of-life bulletins. We link the vendor, never a reseller or an end-of-life aggregator.

What you have actually lost

The Aironet 1700, 2700 and 3700 all passed their last date of support on 30 April 2024. In practice that means three things, in rising order of seriousness:

  • No support case, at any price. If it breaks you are on your own or on the second-hand market.
  • No security patches. A vulnerability found tomorrow will never be fixed on your hardware. This is the one that matters for compliance.
  • A software ceiling on everything else. One old unit holds the whole controller back, because the controller version that still supports it is the version you are stuck on.
    • Vendor datasheet
    Cisco 2700 owners: the datasheet states the access point “will dynamically shift from 3x4 to 3x3” when it cannot get enough power. It does not warn you. It just gets quieter. Cisco end-of-sale and end-of-life bulletins

    If your Cisco access points have stopped joining the controller rather than simply ageing, stop reading this page and check the certificate date first — that is a completely different problem with a completely different fix.

    Specifications

    Specifications, and what quietly stops working on underpowered PoE.
    ModelStreamsHeadline rate (theoretical)PortsPoE for full functionWhat you lose on 802.3afWPA3
    Cisco Aironet 1700 (AIR-AP1702I)3x3:2867 Mbps (80MHz) / 300 Mbps (40MHz)2 x 1GbE + console802.3af / 802.3at / Cisco Enhanced PoE; 15W draw—No
    Cisco Aironet 2700 (AIR-AP2702I/E)3x4:31.3 Gbps2 x 1GbE + console (plus AUX for a downstream device)802.3at; 15W drawCisco's wording: the access point will dynamically shift from 3x4 to 3x3No
    Cisco Aironet 3700 (AIR-AP3702)4x4:31.3 GbpsCheck with vendor802.3at, Enhanced PoE or PWRINJ4 (16.1W for 4x4:3)Degrades to 3x3:3No
    Inferred from sibling Wave 1 datasheets — the 3700 datasheet has been withdrawn from Cisco's site.
    Cisco Aironet 1830 (AIR-AP1832I)3x3:2, SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO867 / 300 Mbps (vendor aggregate: up to 1 Gbps dual-radio)1 x 1GbE only, plus console and USB802.3af / 802.3at; 15.4W drawCisco's wording: if 802.3af PoE is the source of power, the USB port is disabledYes
    Delivered by the controller (AireOS 8.10.x or Catalyst 9800), not by the AP.
    Cisco Aironet 1850 (AIR-AP1852I/E)4x4 MIMO, 4 streams (SU-MIMO); 3 streams (MU-MIMO)216.7 Mbps / 1.73 Gbps2 x 1GbE (no multi-gig)802.3at or Cisco Enhanced PoE (20.9W draw)802.3af cannot supply its 20.9W drawCheck with vendor

    Vendor headline figures are theoretical PHY rates. Real throughput per client, on a shared access point, is a fraction of them — Cisco’s own datasheets use the word “theoretical”.

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    Read next

    The full guide

    End-of-support dates for every model we could verify, and how to tell whether yours is actually the problem.

    AP won’t join the controller

    Check the certificate date before you do anything else.

    Working but unpatched

    A different problem from broken, and a different decision.

    Not sure what you're looking at?

    Send us a photo of the label on one access point and the make of your controller. We'll tell you what you've got, what its dates are, and whether it's actually your problem — no charge for the answer.

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