Why Choose CertificationKits For Your CCNA Certification And Training Needs?

Here at CertificationKits we are here to assist you with putting together the best Cisco certification lab for your hard-earned money. In addition, we have the widest selection of equipment available of any vendor to meet all of your Cisco certification training needs at an affordable price.

The way we see it, you have a few choices on how to build your Cisco certification training lab:

You can try a simulator program that just will not give you the experience you need to master the Cisco certification concepts. There are just too many things you can‘t do with a simulator that we cover in other parts our my website. Besides, would you feel comfortable with the pilot of your airplane whose only experience was on his Xbox or Playstation playing Flight Simulator? Probably not. Nor will most employers feel comfortable hiring a Cisco technician who never opened a Cisco router or switch.  Cisco very recently doubled down on the necessity of using ONLY real hardware to produce the best candidates by incorporating their new, “Performance Based Lab Configuration Questions”.

In Cisco’s own words:

“Just as someone must get behind the wheel of a car and navigate through traffic to demonstrate driving skills for their driving test, Cisco candidates should use real routers, actual Cisco gear, and products to demonstrate their skills and abilities to perform specific tasks. Like in real-life situations, when candidates work with devices, they are often free to use their preferred configuration options, as long as they produce the expected outcome. For example, candidates can enter the prompts they prefer if the device is configured correctly at the end. This goes far beyond their respective “running configuration” since, in the workplace, the focus is on achieving the desired result that aligns with the given requirements.”

You can read our short article on this here: Cisco Performance Based Lab Exam Configuration Questions

You can try to find all the pieces on eBay and purchase them from multiple individuals who are dumping their equipment for various reasons. You will then have multiple shipping charges and taxes (We do not charge tax outside the State of IL) that will ultimately make your total purchase price more expensive than if you purchased it all in one place. Also good luck getting support if you get stuck in your Cisco Certification studies or have a problem with your equipment. How can they warranty something they don’t stock or in most cases don’t have knowledge of past the model number? Will RacerX321 reply to your emails if there is an issue? Anyway, we sell the same kits on eBay too and we consistently have the best price on eBay for Cisco CCNA certification kits.

Another massive and very current issue is the huge surge in counterfeit equipment being sold on third party seller sites like Amazon and Ebay.  Does the price look too good to be true, it probably is!  Just recently the Department of Justice seized thousands of counterfeit devices from over 28 companies selling counterfeit Cisco equipment that is nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.  These not only have pirated or fake copies of the IOS on them, but also may include backdoors and other major security concerns.  We screen everything for authenticity and only sell genuine Cisco hardware and equipment.  Here is the article directly from the Department of Justice on just this single instance out of many that we have seen over the years.

CEO of Dozens of Companies and Entities Charged in Scheme to Traffic an Estimated $1 Billion in Fraudulent and Counterfeit Cisco Networking Equipment

You might find another established hardware reseller who may be close in price to us, but they are just a hardware vendor. Ask them what STP is and they may reply “Wasn’t that a band in the 90s…Stone Temple Pilots?”. Something tells me they may not be able to assist you with any of your technical questions short of repeating things they have overheard but not actually done.  They will also not do anything to make sure you are running the correct versions or licensing to line up with your labs, which will cause all sorts of problems and headaches when you are spending hours of your valuable time diving into your labs.

We Are Unlike Any Other Cisco Hardware Vendor, We Truly Care About Your Cisco Certification Goals

We are not like those other hardware vendors you will find out on the Internet. They are not Cisco certified and they just push hardware out to their customers. We have the technical expertise to recommend to you the best Cisco certification lab kit for you budget and we have the certifications on staff to prove it! Since we have the technical expertise, we can also provide support when you are having a problem figuring out why an interface will not come up. A hardware vendor will not be able to provide that support to you and that is priceless. We have the following certifications on staff:

  • Cisco CCNA
  • Cisco CCNP
  • Six Sigma
  • ITIL
  • Comptia A+
  • Comptia Network+
  • Comptia Security+
  • Comptia Project+
  • Microsoft MCSE NT4
  • Microsoft MCSE 2000
  • Microsoft MCSE 2003
  • Citrix CCA 1.8
  • Citrix CCA XP
  • Citrix CCA Presentation Server 4.0
  • Citrix CCA XenApp 5.0
  • Novell CNE 4
  • Novell CNE 5
  • VMWare VCP 4.1

Yes, a few of the certifications are older. That goes to show that we did not get into the IT industry in the past year or two. Associates on staff have managed large network infrastructures and migrations for Fortune 500 companies, owned a training school and been an instructor for all the certifications listed above and also have published training books. CertificationKits has been in business providing Cisco certification kits since 2000.  That’s over two decades of being the top Cisco Lab Kit source!

You Really Have Found The Premier Used Cisco Router and Cisco Switch Vendor On The Internet

We have developed a reputation on providing a complete Cisco certification training lab solution at an affordable price. We can cover Cisco CCNA, CCNP and CCIE labs. You will get our custom Cisco CCNA study guide and training disc along with all the extra accessories you will need to hit the ground running. We also stand behind our products. If you do have a problem with a unit purchased from us, you can rest assured that we will honor our warranty as we are committed to providing world class service!

eBay and Amazon Kits vs CertificationKits

Occasionally those looking to purchase a CCNA lab kit will say…why is your CCNA kit more expensive than what I would pay if I picked up the same Cisco router and Cisco switches on eBay from people who are just dumping them? At first glance, it may seem accurate that you can save money that way. But many times it is not and we really need to compare apples with apples. If you bear with me a minute, I will be more than happy to explain some of the pitfalls and issues.

The first issue many people can easily relate to is most eBay sellers will charge $18 to $29 plus tax to ship a single switch or router. While a majority of the kits include two to six routers or switches; well you can see those shipping fees can add up quite quickly! For a 6 unit CCNA kit you could be paying $120 to $150 just in shipping purchasing from multiple eBayers.

The second item many new students will overlook is the fact that many eBay sellers don’t include simple things like power cords, console kits or transceivers. Have you looked at how much they charge for a power cord from Staples? $9 just for a power cord. If you got a kit with six units in it…well again, that adds up quickly. Console kits? They are going to run you about $15 if ordered separately and rarely do you see them include transceivers when required at $45 each. So you can see how this can easily at $50 or more to the price of your CCNA lab kit or you are missing components you should have in your CCNA lab.

The third item, which we already discussed above is the massively increasing amount of counterfeit equipment being sold on these third party platforms.  We guarantee that all equipment we sell is authentic, genuine Cisco hardware.  So, you have nothing to worry about.

The fourth item you will want to consider is all the study material we include in our CCNA kits and what that is worth. Most CCNA kits do not include any sort of CCNA lab workbook or Theory Book. Without a CCNA lab workbook or Theory Book, what good is the lab? We include our full CCNA Training package that includes our CCNA Lab Workbook, CCNA Bootcamp & Theory Book, Subnetting IPv4 & IPv6 Workbook, Practice Exam Question & Answer Banks, TCP/IP Poster and a Tri-Fold Cram Sheet. You will find rampant on eBay sellers including pirated PDFs. Is that the type of vendor you want to deal with? If you are so inclined to pirate material such as that, I am sure a quick Google search will turn up a site or two with pirated PDFs and you don’t really need to have a vendor provide them for you.  On top of that, why even waste your time trying to work through labs from an untested, random pdf that won’t provide the level of training that our Lab Workbook does.  Our Study Materials have helped thousands of candidates get certified and has been refined, year over year, for a very long time. our CCNA CRAM sheet and our CCNA TCP/IP Study Poster. These are all top of the line study materials written in an easy to read, user friendly format. Individually these items run at a bundled price of $150. But we include these all for free with all our Cisco Lab Kits!

The fifth item to consider is the customer service factor. If you have an issue with an item you get on eBay will you remember who you got it from? Will they respond to your emails three day, three weeks or three months later? We have been in business selling CCNA kits over 20 years now on the Internet. We are not going anywhere! We keep a large inventory of stock to be able to address an item if it goes bad and we support our customers when they have questions on the why and how things work. Try to find an eBayer or Amazon seller who will do that and it is priceless when you are pulling your hair out.

The sixth item to consider is our warranties. All of our products come with our standard warranty and we are so confident that we even offer extended lifetime warranties too. With our warranty process if you have a problem, we cover the shipping back and forth. We want to make it easy for you.

The seventh item to consider is our Trade-Up program. What if you make a mistake and purchase the wrong thing and don’t figure it out for a day or a month? What do you think the eBayer’s response will be? What if you outgrow you router a year down the line? With our Trade-Up program you can trade in any item you purchased from us at full current retail value! Never will your equipment become obsolete!  Future proof! Now how cool is that?

The final thing to consider are all the cool things we have brought to the Cisco certification community. The free videos, forums, blogs, free games, free iPhone and Android apps. We do this for all of you…our customers…our friends. So if you review there are close to $200 in tangible items we include in our kits and much more in the intangibles. We truly hope you will take these items into consideration when you make your CCNA lab kit purchase and we wish you success in your Cisco certification pursuits.

We are your one stop shop for your Cisco CCNA, CCNP & CCIE certification training lab hardware needs!