We performed a comparison between Cisco 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: As competitors, Cisco Wireless and Ruckus Wireless come in at a close tie. Both products offer a really strong set of features. However, their pricing is where each stands out, with Cisco being more expensive and Ruckus being affordable. In addition, users of Ruckus Wireless report seeing an immediate ROI.
"The most valuable feature of Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) is the ability to troubleshoot ports on the network. Additionally, when there is an update on the APs they are able to reboot quickly reducing downtime. Other solutions have a longer downtime when updates are done."
"The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis."
"With Mist, every Wednesday they roll out new features."
"The simplicity is great."
"The AI capabilities of Mist Wireless are superior to other OEMs."
"The artificial intelligence feature is very good."
"You can easily monitor, manage, and cover all your IT equipment."
"It provides private network access, helping us protect our company’s devices."
"The ability to deploy wireless access points with templates."
"The product offers educational licenses that are priced very reasonably."
"Before COVID, the emphasis was primarily on wireless connectivity in specific areas like conference rooms. However, with the shift to remote work and increased mobility, coverage areas needed to be expanded to accommodate users throughout the entire location. We are beginning to expand our infrastructure."
"Cisco is one of the leading vendors and is at the top of many lists. The access software is robust, and the performance of the devices is excellent."
"The installation process is very easy."
"Compared to other solutions, captive guest network is one of the best isolation and tunneling."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is reliability."
"The support is very good. Technical support is very helpful."
"BeamFlex works great in changing environments by bouncing WiFi signals around obstacles."
"Very reliable."
"I like the controller more informative and easier to set up."
"The solution has great network intelligence from applications, clients, access points, and controllers."
"The list of options you have is great: throttling guest networks, the controller dashboards for administration, on-the-fly configuring, settings, hours of use."
"Once we got it set up and configured we've had little issues and it's been relatively stable. We use it across all seven of our offices and they all have the exact same wifi setup so when I go into any office I can get on the network and access resources."
"Valuable features include Bonjour Gateway and the hardware antenna array."
"In general, all implementations are standard and pretty straightforward."
"The pricing is very high in the Indian market."
"There is room for improvement in terms of support and installation."
"The product should include adaptive Wi-Fi to show a more accurate location."
"Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems."
"It would be helpful to have even stronger security features to help protect against interference from other nearby access points that aren't part of our network."
"Improving third-party integration is key for Juniper Mist's next release."
"Enrolling into the tool is a tedious process."
"The price could be better."
"They should introduce zero interference capabilities."
"It would be better if some utility lets us know the best place to install the system. Every time we install it, we have to change it, and we have to add more access points. This is a problem we have all the time. It would be better if it integrated seamlessly with products from other vendors. It'll also help if they included a device diagnostics feature in the next release."
"An expensive solution that small companies cannot afford."
"It's expensive."
"The security must be improved."
"Many wireless controllers' firmware have bugs in their new releases, which are not stable, especially in an environment with many wireless AP (WAP) types."
"There's a delay in equipment that comes to Columbia, to our country, and that lasts almost six months."
"The new licensing has no added value and seems to be Cisco's effort to take advantage of customers."
"Its interface could be a little bit more user friendly."
"Captive portal for guest access on the controller could be enhanced."
"It is extremely difficult to send videos in Ruckus live sessions. Zoom streaming, or using Teams Streaming live sessions to send videos, for example, could be more effective."
"The software should be made more stable."
"The biggest adjustment improvement will come from a price adjustment because the price is quite high; it feels like premium pricing. I suggest shaving off 10 percent to 20 percent. That would help grow users and increase the number of clients."
"The initial setup was not simple. We were installing indoor and outdoor wireless and this is why it took us three months."
"While the Virtual SmartZone appliance has improved in the last few years, it isn’t without issue and the performance of the Web page leaves something to be desired."
"The initial setup is complex."
More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →
Cisco Wireless is ranked 2nd in Wireless LAN with 147 reviews while Ruckus Wireless is ranked 3rd in Wireless LAN with 97 reviews. Cisco Wireless is rated 8.2, while Ruckus Wireless is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Cisco Wireless writes "Allows us to deploy a wide range of wireless products with stable WiFi". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Ruckus Wireless writes "Great wireless, good reliability, and excellent connectivity". Cisco Wireless is most compared with Aruba Wireless, Ubiquiti WLAN, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, Mist AI and Cloud and Omada Access Points, whereas Ruckus Wireless is most compared with Aruba Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, Ubiquiti WLAN, ExtremeWireless and Omada Access Points. See our Cisco Wireless vs. Ruckus Wireless report.
See our list of best Wireless LAN vendors.
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.
They both do a great job. But it depends on the application scenario.
For corporate environments probably Cisco will perform better not only because of Cisco Wi-Fi features but especially because you can be integrated with all Cisco infrastructure and manage it all.
In heavy-duty environments, like public hot-spot, stadiums, exhibition centers, etc, Ruckus should be considered. In this type of applications, pure Wi-Fi performance is more important than management features or security, and therefore, it could be the better choice.
If you care more about performance and stable communications, Ruckus Wireless is definitely better.
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).