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.
"The most valuable feature of the solution is Marvis, the AI-driven network management system."
"You can easily monitor, manage, and cover all your IT equipment."
"With Mist, every Wednesday they roll out new features."
"The solution is stable."
"The simplicity is great."
"In terms of reporting, in terms of all the user reports, it's very rich."
"The solution is pretty generic and easy to use."
"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."
"Price is one of the most important factors. We have a solution that's reasonably cost-effective when balanced against all the areas we need to cover."
"The performance and the application monitor. You can select the applications you want to use and block on your network"
"There is no problem with downtime."
"Aruba is an industry leader. The hardware is on par, and its performance is also on par with anybody else. The Aruba brand really only focuses on wireless, so they're not competing their R&D for switching data center products and cloud security. They're really focused on that and their underlying key pieces. They provide a role-based authentication that is native to the controller. A lot of other systems don't do that. They won't provide you the ability to basically have everybody join the network, regardless of whether or not they share the same network space, the SSID, or the wireless LAN. You can segment it down to a specific user role based on any kind of attributes that you like. That's their differentiator. If you need per user, per device, or per port segmentation, you can get that with Aruba. There isn't another vendor who does it."
"The tool's most valuable feature is Aruba Central, which offers centralized management. You can manage its switches, APs, and data access. It is easy to manage the entire switches and APs. The solution is the best in terms of security and manageability."
"The technical support is 24/7 from the UA."
"The most valuable features are the Instant On capabilities, including the controller."
"The user interface is great."
"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."
"The list of options you have is great: throttling guest networks, the controller dashboards for administration, on-the-fly configuring, settings, hours of use."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
"The smart antenna is very good."
"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 reason we picked Ruckus, in addition to our long-standing relationship with them, is pretty much that the RFS characteristics of it seem to be the best."
"It's reliable wireless equipment."
"One of the biggest features of Ruckus Wireless is its BeamFlex+ technology."
"I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features."
"The pricing is very high in the Indian market."
"They should include SD-WAN features to it."
"The product should include adaptive Wi-Fi to show a more accurate location."
"The solution is expensive."
"There is room for improvement in terms of support and installation."
"Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems."
"The pricing should be made cheaper."
"The solution is now taking eight to 12 months to deliver the product."
"Aruba doesn't match some competitors in wireless signal strength. It isn't in the same class as Cisco Meraki, so I would use Cisco Meraki in situations where I need to cover a large open space. Meraki has more powerful signals going out."
"They could work on energy consumption as this equipment needs a lot of energy."
"They should have more support for implementing Aruba Wireless in Smart Cities and outdoor applications."
"We have an issue with the integration of Aruba Wireless with our LDAP servers."
"One area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is its dashboard or interface because in some cases, it's not as easy to use as it should be, but overall, it's okay. Pricing for the product is also on the higher side. Another area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is technical support because it's hard to reach when issues arise and the speed of answer could be faster. Other areas for improvement in the product include integration and configuration."
"The certification for licensing could be better."
"Aruba is missing some features that are available in other solutions, such as the email notifications. It's a bit complex to configure the notification part. Mainly I'm talking about the rogue WiFi detection. This email notification is crucial for us, but it isn't possible to configure with the built-in software. You need something else, like an external system log collector or another Aruba software. These notifications are essential in hospitality for PCI compliance. My colleagues in famous luxury hotel chains need that report."
"I have not got any major problem using Ruckus, but the price and technical support could be better."
"I would like to see this product made a little more economical because it's very expensive."
"Previously, we would need to purchase appliances every time but it caused our data centers to get filled. Ruckus now has cloud-based controllers. They resolved the issue we were having."
"Its interface could be a little bit more user friendly."
"The solution lacks a lot of features other solutions provide. If you are an organization that is more focused on security or you need a lot of other features, such as location tracking then Ruckus Wireless may not be the right choice. If you want a solution with more than basic security I would choose Arista or Aruba."
"Its security can be improved. It doesn't use Wireless IPS. Therefore, we have to combine WatchGuard that uses a Wireless IPS but is a separate solution. These two solutions work in conjunction. We are using the WatchGuard as a sensor and Wireless IPS, and Ruckus is like a platform that is used for the connectivity of the network."
"The price has room for improvement."
"They need to be able to allow us to keep some of the older products on our cloud controllers or any of their controllers longer and just start supporting the new controllers. They force you into an upgrade unnecessarily."
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 96 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