Aruba Instant Reviews

It's a networking product for switching and Wi-Fi.

Aruba Instant doesn't have many security features. It's very basic and doesn't enhance network security significantly. However, you have basic functionalities like checking your network, seeing who's connected, removing or blacklisting devices, and changing passwords from the central console. 

These are only basic security features, not enterprise-level solutions. 

Aruba Instant is already good in its segment, with available features. If anyone wants to move towards enterprise solutions, Aruba has other products available. This is a different segment with good features. 

It's a solution for small and medium businesses that offers centralized control and basic features like whitelisting, device visibility, VLAN creation, and loop avoidance. 

It's not a feature-rich, enterprise-class product but provides essential functionalities for customers moving from unmanaged to managed networks, with full visibility on a central console and a user-friendly interface.

It's not suited for larger companies.

The product is a little expensive.

My experience in networking is more than 16 years, and with Aruba Instant, I have almost seven years.

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. 

Aruba Instant is not for larger enterprises, but it's for small organizations, houses, villas, big offices, and small hotels.

It is a scalable solution. Moreover, Aruba has multiple products in this segment, so customers can choose the right product, and all are managed within the same Aruba Instant platform.

I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. 

For small and medium businesses, home, and small hotels, it's ten. But not for enterprises.

The deployment process is very easy. If everything is ready, configuring five or ten switches takes hardly one or two hours maximum.

Deployment model:

Aruba Instant is a cloud-based solution for small and medium businesses with limited features and centralized management of switching and Wi-Fi solutions. The physical devices are on-premises, while management is done from the cloud.

It's an HPE-owned cloud built for management. We get it for free and don't know where it's hosted.

With a single access point, you get visibility and everything. The ease of manageability and operation helps minimize manpower and saves time. 

It's also physically a very good product, with good signal strength for coverage. It can handle more than 100 to 200 devices easily, even in a smart home with many connected devices. These are all the ways it helps and gives an edge over competitors.

The product is a little expensive. If someone wants extra features, they will choose the enterprise products instead of Aruba Instant.

The extra features aren't useful for small and medium businesses or homes, so nobody will pay for them.

I would rate the pricing a two out of ten, where one is expensive and ten is cheap. 

It provides centralized network control, but other products do the same. There are no unique features.

Currently, we only promote Aruba, but some small and medium businesses also use NETGEAR products. We don't sell NETGEAR; we only focus on Aruba.

I would recommend using it! Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

The solution is used for guest user login for wireless, secure connectivity for internal and guest users, and user experience.

Aruba Instant is a cloud-managed solution that can be managed from the cloud.

The solution’s pricing could be improved. Embedding a heatmap tool within the product would make it easier to conduct a wireless survey. If you are pitching the product against other solutions, it would be best to conduct a prior wireless survey before positioning the product.

I have been using Aruba Instant for five to six years.

Aruba Instant is a stable solution.

You can scale the solution based on your requirements.

To deploy the solution, you first need to set up and register the access points on the cloud. Then, you configure everything and push it to the endpoint devices. It takes around six months to deploy the solution.

The solution provides a good return on investment in terms of user experience.

There are limitations to the solution's security, and you need additional security like firewall and endpoint security. The solution improves the reliability, uptime, user experience, and seamless connectivity with the access points.

Users can log in and connect to the tool from anywhere. The solution provides seamless connectivity, user experience, performance, and reliability.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use Aruba Instant as our access point for various purposes, including data, and throughout the office. As we expand, we plan to implement it in our warehouse for connectivity.

The tool's most valuable feature is Captive Portal, which we employ for our guest network. It enables us to create a separate virtual subnet for guests, ensuring their network traffic remains isolated from our office network. Another valuable feature is its role-based access control. This functionality allows us to assign different access privileges to users based on their roles within the organization.

The tool's support quality has changed since HPE acquired it. It is also impossible to tell the log dates. 

I have been using the product for nine years. 

The solution is stable. 

I rate the tool's scalability an eight out of ten. My company has 250 users. 

Previously, our interaction and follow-up were mainly with Aruba, the original manufacturer of Aruba Instant. However, since support has transitioned to HPE following Aruba's acquisition, the level of support has not been as satisfactory. While Aruba had its dedicated support system and community, these resources have been integrated into HP's support structure, which has impacted the quality of service we receive.

Aruba Instant's deployment is easy. I implemented the device registration process by registering one device and then broadcasting that configuration to all other devices. This automated the configuration setup for all devices. 

The product has increased its pricing by at least 30 percent. 

Previously, when Aruba was a standalone company, we enjoyed excellent support as they were our partners. However, over the past nine years, Aruba underwent a significant change when it was acquired by HPE. This acquisition took place approximately four or five years ago. Following this transition, Aruba is no longer our partner, and we prefer to work with our partners. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

Aruba Instant can be one of the best solutions for small businesses or users because of its virtual controller feature. Unlike many other products where you must purchase a separate controller hardware or software, Aruba Instant includes a virtual controller within the device.

We are a system integrator. Aruba is a very reliable solution, and I've been working with Aruba products for more than five years. It started with Aruba wireless solutions, like the 135 series, 203H Series, 203R Series, 300 series, and now Aruba 8. 

The coverage is excellent, and it's very well developed with high customer satisfaction.

The product is quite reliable. The hardware is solid, and the RF coverage is superb.

First and foremost, the coverage is very good. Even with numerous clients connected, the average coverage remains strong. Typically, we observe two to three bars, and on occasion, we've even seen six bars of signal strength. It's a remarkably balanced system that consistently delivers reliable performance.

Aruba's mobility features, which facilitate seamless switching between wireless access points, are also quite impressive. Users don't even notice the transition, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted experience.

Additionally, features like Aruba Am technology, MAC address control, and guest access port enhance security are good. 

I have been working on a feature for Aruba Instant called Mobile Access for the Edge Tenant. This feature would allow us to manage and control access points from the cloud. We could provision APs, make configuration changes, and monitor their performance.

I have been using this solution since 2017. I currently use version 8.

I've worked on many projects with Aruba Instant. We've deployed the virtual drill of Aruba AP-505 and AP-514 in several projects.

I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. 

I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. We have small as well as enterprise. Small and medium. Most of the time, it is small and medium.

I've installed over a thousand access points and the support has been reliable. 

Positive

I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy. We are mostly on-premises; slowly, we are migrating to the cloud. 90% of us are on-premises, but 10% are gradually introducing the cloud.

Most of the client setup is at the private center data center. And public clouds like AWS and Microsoft Cloud.

The deployment took a few hours.

Our customers see an ROI. 

It's not too expensive. It is somewhere between the middle, the expensive, and the cheap.

The pricing is reasonable.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

I'm the director of information technology at a school and we use this solution for our Wifi. We are customers of Aruba.

The easy setup means that the initial deployment becomes the master access point and everything else follows automatically. As you plug your wifi access points in, and it picks up the network, it will look for the master wifi access point that will work as the controller. It's great. 

Although you don't have to purchase a subscription for the Aruba cloud controller, it's a lot better to have all of your access points in the cloud, so you can manage them without accessing the master access point itself. Integration between the two is pricey and that would be my one complaint about this product. 

I've been using this solution for five years. 

We haven't had any issues with stability. If you configure it to auto update, there won't be any problems. I haven't had any issues with the access points.

The solution is scalable. 

As long as you have your serial number, the technical support is good. They'll work with you to configure and help you through any issues. They'll look at the backend and tell you what's going on with it as well. You don't have to have a lot of knowledge about the system to use it.

We switched to Aruba Instant around 2015 when HPE purchased Aruba and they discontinued Pro Curve.

If there are no special requirements and you're using it out of the box, it's very easy to deploy and maintain. 

It's important to know your physical environment so that when ordering particular access points, you're getting what works for your environment, whether the location is a modern building or something older. 

I rate this solution 10 out of 10. 

I use the solution for managing switches remotely.

It is a good solution. It is straightforward.

The security features must be improved.

I have been using the solution for six years.

I rate the tool’s stability a ten out of ten.

I rate the tool’s scalability a nine out of ten. We have more than 2000 users.

I am satisfied with the technical support.

Positive

I rate the ease of setup a ten out of ten. The deployment is easy. It takes a few minutes to deploy the tool.

The product is reasonably priced.

We can configure the solution using our phone even if we don't have a laptop. It is very easy. We can manage it from wherever we want. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

In my company, we use Aruba Instant since it is a very light product for installations, and it provides summaries, making it a good choice for customers.

The product works well in terms of mobility. When users want to migrate from one location to another, they face no problems with connectivity.

In my opinion, Aruba offers nice products.

The support offered by Aruba is slow. For improvement, I would like Aruba to offer faster support to users and more customization options.

I have been using Aruba Instant for seven years. I might update the product for access points supported by Aruba. In our company, old access points have not been updated since they have reached the end of life. My company is a reseller of Aruba products.

The product's stability is good. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten since its scalability is good.

The product's installation procedure went very well, and there was only very small troubleshooting required because of some compatibility issues of the product with the tools from other vendors. Aruba works very well with devices from the same vendor. Sometimes, when our company wants to connect Aruba to devices from other vendors, we face some minor issues which are not very problematic.

My clients use the solution in small locations like shops, warehouses, and similar places. The number of uses of the solution depends upon the number of access points at those locations.

Around 20 of my clients use Aruba Instant. My company serves small and medium enterprises.

The solution's technical support is very nice. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

On a scale of one to ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy, I rate the initial setup a nine since it was an easy and straightforward process.

The solution is deployed on-premises.

I rate the product's price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. It offers good relations between functionality, compatibility, reasonable price, and a range of nice products.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

I primarily use the solution for my WiFi.

The solution provides a very good end-user experience. 

It's easy to manage the wireless. I can make a mesh. I can make connections to other access points without wires. I have several WiFi routers and can connect them seamlessly.

It's very transparent. I can see how my bandwidth is being used and I can control that.

The access point has a firewall inside to see my applications and the kinds of applications I am using.

The most valuable aspect is the potential to have it cover all my devices and I can see the applications and make a policy around them. The monitoring is very good as it does help me build out policies around the access points. 

The security features are very good. 

They could offer a new model for access points that are outdoors. They don't have an outdoor WiFi Six in their portfolio right now.

They should maybe make the sites bigger. While you can have extension nodes, you can only have 25 devices only. That is too small for some companies. 

I've been using the solution for a year and a half. 

The stability depends on the cloud and what stability the cloud has. I haven't had any issues where the service has gone down. The stability has been 100% stable for me. 

You can have 25 devices on one site. 

For example, in the case of a hotel, you might have one site for the lobby and one site on another floor. You might have WiFi for one site yet you won't have roaming. You need to have sites.

If a company needs more, it can buy an enterprise solution. This one has limited scalability.

I've never contacted technical support.

I have not really used another solution, aside from an offering from my ISP. 

The initial setup is very straightforward. You do not need a specialist. You just have to open the box and read some documentation. I have to download an app on my phone and scan a QR to enter a website. I gain access to a Wizard. Through that, I look for my device and start the process. I go through it step by step. Even if you have no expertise in technology, it's very simple.

I'd rate the ease of setup ten out of ten. 

The full deployment took about five minutes. You only have to configure the first IP. After that, you don't have to configure anything. It's very fast. Even if you have 25 IPs, you only have to configure one, and then the others you just have to power up.

I handled the setup myself. I did not need any outside assistance. Everything I needed was in the box. 

I have seen a good ROI. I've been more productive working from home and this solution facilitates that. It ensures we are safe and protected and the network can help us to be more stable.

The pricing is reasonable. I'd rate it seven out of ten. 

Whether it is affordable to other people depends on who is buying it and what they need it to do. It's not like TP-Link or something like that. There are a bit more features. 

There are also other solutions that are cheaper than this, however, they may not work the same. 

There are no additional costs. We pay just one price for the device itself. I'm not sure of the exact price. It might have been around $100.

I did evaluate other solutions previously. I understand what other solutions can do, more or less, however, I choose to use Aruba since I know what it can do and it offers a good price. 

I'm a user and also a distributor. 

It has devices that are switches and access points and it is managed via the cloud and the cloud is free. It's all unified. 

This solution can integrate other solutions, such as Clear Pass. You can easily configure it to connect to a radio server, for example. There are a lot of great advanced configurations.  It's very flexible. It's a very capable product. 

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.