We performed a comparison between Aruba Wireless and Ruckus Wireless based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Ruckus Wireless seems to be the superior solution, based on the parameters we compared. Our reviewers found Aruba Wireless to have stability issues and mentioned a poor ROI because of issues that needed fixing caused by the solution. Ruckus Wireless did better in these categories.
"It provides private network access, helping us protect our company’s devices."
"The AI capabilities of Mist Wireless are superior to other OEMs."
"You can easily monitor, manage, and cover all your IT equipment."
"Overall, we've been very pleased with the performance."
"The solution is pretty generic and easy to use."
"With Mist, every Wednesday they roll out new features."
"The solution is stable."
"The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis."
"We have three wireless networks: One for employee use, one for guest use, and one for our warehouse use, which uses MAC authentication. These wireless networks just simply work, they do not fail. The IAP-205 devices are very strong with great range. Very durable equipment; it always works."
"Aruba Central."
"The most valuable feature in this product would be the stability. You build it, install it, and it’s good to go, with no further tweaks needed unless adding or replacing APs."
"It has an aesthetically pleasing GUI for configuration."
"Aruba Central is a valuable feature because I can monitor access points remotely, even if I'm not in the office."
"Aruba allowed for the detailed control and management of an entire WiFi network from a single screen backed by a support team with local SEs who work with business partners to ensure the product's success."
"The coverage, concurrent user life, and visualization are the most valuable features of these solutions."
"All features are useful for me. It lets me perform some specific configurations depending on the site or the client. All WAN features are valuable."
"The APs themselves have been pretty solid. We haven't had too many of them go bad or anything like that. The wireless performance seems pretty good. The ability to provision the devices is pretty good, and the back end is also pretty good."
"We used to struggle a lot doing the connectivity between the branch offices in port. Ruckus offers the flexibility to pull the connectivity and we can actually manage our workflow and application to this connectivity. It is a wonderful way of doing things fast."
"One of the biggest features of Ruckus Wireless is its BeamFlex+ technology."
"The mesh technology is the solution's most valuable aspect. Ruckus originally had the patent for it. They might've lost it because I see now that other people are doing it, however, they were the ones who came out with the smart mesh technology first, which is phenomenal."
"The most valuable feature is that Ruckus offers better coverage."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"All IPs can be managed and monitored by the customer from a single console."
"Its roaming capabilities and the fact that we can have redundant backup controllers are the most valuable. There is a backup controller that is heart beated to the primary. It is also fairly easy to install."
"The pricing is very high in the Indian market."
"Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) could improve if the MIST platform had a built-in master key. This would be an advantage."
"If you want to do more specific stuff, it's a bit limited."
"I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features."
"The pricing should be made cheaper."
"The price could be better."
"Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points’ support services need improvement."
"Improving third-party integration is key for Juniper Mist's next release."
"The new 8400 failed at Lab, plus its integration with Aruba Central."
"The pricing could always be better."
"They should provide usage guides and solutions to frequent problems."
"The enterprise controller. I'm planning on getting more information on that."
"We need security features to recognize the traffic source and to apply Zero Trust security."
"I used to have issues with DHCP. It is extremely buggy and difficult to upgrade with different firmware versions/models."
"What needs improvement in Aruba Wireless is its access point, in particular, it should have more flexibility. Aruba Wireless has Campus AP, Instant AP, and Unified AP, but it would be better if the product has a generic access point that you can manage over the cloud, on-premise, etc. Another area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is scalability. In terms of what additional features I'd like to see in the product, I'm unsure if it's already on the roadmap, but if possible, it would be good to have an SD-WAN functionality on the AP in Aruba Wireless."
"I believe that Aruba's support could be improved."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see a more detailed spectrum analysis."
"I think that Web management, global management, could be improved. Unfortunately, there's not one solution that does everything. There are something like six different solutions, and each of them do something better than the others. Unfortunately, there's not one global solution that does everything."
"The price has room for improvement."
"It would be better if there were more visibility on the cloud. We have some lack of visibility because of wireless interference, and you have to do some troubleshooting for the packet capture. They have a built-in packet capture, and we can monitor the application. You can see all things over the cloud. They also provide an on-premise solution, so they need to improve the on-premise version and ensure an output with more visibility. Live monitoring in a live environment should be good. What is happening with wireless is that the wireless client is not connected due to interference, and there should be a shield zone on their wireless cloud. If they give us more features on both Ruckus Cloud or on-premises, that will be best. Nowadays, security is more important for everyone using wireless technology. If they implement a little bit of reduction and prevention features for some packets on the wireless cloud, some features like web filtering and some prevention for blocking will be good for the network."
"I wish that Ruckus Wireless were more affordable for customers."
"The Ruckus platform in general could be improved — it could be more user-friendly."
"The price could be improved."
"Lacks some analytics features in the control itself."
More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →
Aruba Wireless is ranked 1st in Wireless LAN with 138 reviews while Ruckus Wireless is ranked 3rd in Wireless LAN with 97 reviews. Aruba Wireless is rated 8.4, while Ruckus Wireless is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Aruba Wireless writes "The portal for centralized management and virtual controller for APs are very valuable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Ruckus Wireless writes "Great wireless, good reliability, and excellent connectivity". Aruba Wireless is most compared with Cisco Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, Ubiquiti WLAN, Huawei Wireless and Mist AI and Cloud, whereas Ruckus Wireless is most compared with Cisco Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, Ubiquiti WLAN, ExtremeWireless and Omada Access Points. See our Aruba Wireless vs. Ruckus Wireless report.
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We monitor all Wireless LAN reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
1 Ruckus
2 Aruba
3 Cambium
It depends on your enviroment.
Greetings
Here's my recommendation in order.
#1 Aruba
#2 Ruckus
#3 Ubiquiti
Hi Vinny,
I recommend you the following devices:
1. Ruckus: Easily to deploy. Expensive but effective. Don’t ask for the advanced license - you don’t need it. Buy only the basic one. A great option for hard users performance and large venues.
2. Ubiquiti: Easy to deploy, cheap but limited hardware. This is an option for basic performance.
3. Aruba: Easy to deploy, expensive, bad UX experience.
4. Cambium networks: A good option, between Ruckus and Ubiquiti.
5. Huawei. Never. Never. Never. Bad UX, bad support experience, bad hardware, bad everything.
6. Meraki. Too expensive. Don’t!
Regards!
If you want high performance and stability, you should definitely go with Ruckus Wireless.
Ruckus Wireless APs have:
- Adaptive antenna technology (called BeamFlex)
This technology analyzes different paths to reach the client and electronically turns itself to a directional antenna, choosing the path that gives the best performance to reach each specific client. If the client is mobile or if the environment changes (such as a warehouse) the selection of paths/direction also changes instantly.
Transmitting in a directional way allows a good Signal-to-Noise Ratio and also causes less interference for other nearby APs outside the path of the directional transmission.
- ChannelFly technology
This technology chooses the best channel based on performance rather than background scanning for noise.
- Polarization Diversity
This technology allows the clients not to lose signal strength when held at different angles (important for mobile devices such as tablets and telephones).
- Better receive sensitivity compared to the competitors
All these features make Ruckus Wireless a better choice than any other competitor (better performance, better coverage area, more stable and surprise-free communication especially in not so easy conditions such as noise, too many clients, too much traffic).
Selecting an AP depends upon a couple of factors which include (the number of users per AP, coverage area and required speed/throughput)
My recommendations are:
1. Ruckus
2. Aruba
3. Cisco
Ruckus:
Performs well in a high-density environment, with unique adaptive antenna technology & PD-MRC gives more coverage and interference mitigation. Ruckus offers a reliable Wireless network solution.
Aruba:
Good but not the best with better security features.
Cisco:
Complex deployment, is costly but it has better compatibility.
I have a smaller venue where I am using Unifi: Dream Machine UDM, Aggregation Switch, U6-Lite APs and Pro Switches...fiber optic backbone.
I am extremely satisfied with its performance. I can't tell about the other brands.
Have a look at Juniper Mist solution - it used in large retail stores and corps as well as a full integrated AI suite.
You can implement hundreds in just a few hours using foundation staff as it can all be programmed up on the cloud, no need for expensive network engineers to deploy
https://mist.com
Malcolm
Hi Vinny,
I'm biased toward Ubiquiti Unifi, but successful Wi-Fi deployment is hugely dependant on the type and number of Wi-Fi users, and more importantly, the layout and environment of the area you would like to cover.
Please feel free to PM me to discuss your application.
Regards,
Steve Pender