Aruba Wireless Reviews

We using now working with a customer in Jedda. We sold more than 738 access points - 294 outdoor access points and around 500 indoor ones. We sold a controller for this number as well.

Aruba has a lot of features. 

The stability is the best. It's very reliable. 

The roaming signal is excellent. 

You can do firewalling over the WiFi which is unique.

The initial setup is easy.

Sometimes the configuration is difficult. 

Aruba needs to offer an IT telephone in order to can catch all of the market. Cisco already has an IT telephone security product. Aruba does not. If Aruba offered an IP conference option it would be great.

I've worked with Aruba for seven years at this point. 

The stability is great, as is the reliability and the performance. there are no bugs or glitches. it doesn't crash or freeze. the signal is strong. 

Aruba is scalable. Many products are. For example, if we have a controller, we can manage 2,000 access points and can add another thousand access points.

Technical support is very good, very qualified. We are very happy with their level of knowledge and support.

We are a partner for Aruba, Cisco, and Huawei.

The implementation is easy. Anyone that has a platform from Aruba or knows about Aruba knows about configuring the product, which can be difficult. There are many deployment options for a natural configuration. You need to figure out what type of deployment you are doing (and there can be many) and do it according to your specific needs. If one has enough experience or is certified from Aruba, he can do it. If he doesn't it's complex and difficult. 

ClearPass from Aruba is complicated. However, it's a very good, powerful software.

We are on a partner, gold partner at tier-one for HP. We are working directly with the vendor. There isn't any team, or any supplier, or anyone between us and Aruba. For Cisco, we are working with their team or, and the suppliers from Europe, from Dubai. We request some material from them, and that's all. Huawei has the same setup as Cisco.

I'm certified ACMP, ACSP, ACDB, and a certified ACAD, AC professional.

While the latest release was 10, we are working with 8.7.

New users will get a lot of benefits from Aruba. They have a lot of products - including ClearPass. Users will not find any net solution like ClearPass, from anyone. In Gartner, it is a leader in IoT for wired and wireless IoT such as cameras, access control, et cetera. They also have great switches. It's a very big vendor like HP. 

Aruba has a lifetime warranty. You don't need to get proactive care; the hardware already has a lifetime warranty. In the end, you will get a lot of benefits. 

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for the wireless services for the entire campus.

The wireless service is pretty much standard. 

We like the centralized configuration and monitoring. 

We like the performance of the access points as they're not easily interfered with by other wireless devices. 

The initial setup was straightforward. It's really easy.

The documentation is great.

The pricing and licensing structure are great.

It's very easy to work with.

I would like to see a faster web interface in the controller and more troubleshooting tools, including real-time troubleshooting tools.

The stability is quite good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

A lot of people use the solution. We have about 120 access points and more than 1,500 clients who use it daily.

In terms of scalability, it is very easy to expand the network. We build new schools and buildings all the time so the usage is always increasing.

We haven't used technical support yet; I really am not qualified to answer to how helpful or responsive they are.

That said, the forums are quite helpful if you need assistance or to gain insights into usage.

We previously used HP Access Point and LANCOM Access Points. The HP series was discontinued and the LANCOM is very outdated. Therefore, we switched over to Aruba.

The initial setup is straightforward and not overly complex. A company shouldn't have any trouble handling the process. 

We had it up and running in a day or two. The deployment is fast.

We have installed and configured it by ourselves. We did not need the assistance of consultants or integrators. That said, we had the access points, however, we needed some education, some training. The company who sold us the access point really spent two or three days training us and then we configured it ourselves.

We had a very good experience with them. We were satisfied with their level of expertise.

The license is not that expensive. The access point comes with a perpetual license. That's a very big deal in this kind of market. For example, Cisco charges annual licenses in comparison. Aruba Access Points come with perpetual licenses. It could be one license and you have it forever. There is no need to renew or buy something extra.

The pricing is very attractive. I'd rate it at a five out of five. 

You buy the controller. You buy the access points and the licenses and that's it. If you want to have technical support on the controller, you have to buy subscriptions. However, the licenses and the warranty of the access points are free and forever. There's an unlimited lifetime guarantee.

We are a university, so we have the whole community using this product.

We are using Access Point 305 with the Aruba controller 7210.

It's a very good solution. We have our problems, however, all wireless products have their problems. We haven't used state-of-the-art wireless solutions like Cisco or Huawei, so we're not able to compare everything together. That said, we are very happy with what we have.

I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

I was able to provide Aruba Wireless to financial, Telco, and hospitality industries.

If you're looking into a wireless solution, more and more people now are using Aruba Wireless. There are two key reasons why: in a developing country, many of the companies look at the cost and quality of a solution. Cost-wise, Aruba Wireless is very attractive here in the Sri Lankan market. The other key reason is Aruba Wireless provides their key product portal and a limited lifetime warranty. Other providers do not provide that level of warranty. These are the reasons why a customer would choose to purchase Aruba products than Cisco, or any other access point or wireless solution.

The key feature of this solution is the value for money. If customers can get a good quality product at a very competitive price, plus a limited lifetime warranty, then this gives very high value to the customer, which is what you can get from Aruba Wireless.

Aruba Wireless is able to provide value addition, apart from their product features.

This solution is user-friendly and their technical support team provides very good support.

An area for improvement I found in this solution is the configuration. Though it's currently an improved version, it could still be made easier, so technical people could benefit from being able to configure Aruba Wireless within a quicker amount of time.

I'm a specialist and I've been in this industry for 22 years, and I've been dealing with Aruba Wireless for over 10 years. I've worked with it within the last 12 months.

Aruba Wireless is a stable product.

Aruba Wireless is scalable. We have different product segments and we educate different customer requirements and industries. Because of COVID, all industries are facing a lot of challenges, but we find this product scalable.

We have our pre-sales team with us in-house, but we do have two technical support people distributed here locally. We always communicate with them. They share their product knowledge, experiences, and user case studies, to help us improve. We also share our experiences with them to also help them improve. On a scale of one to five, I'm giving the technical support team a four. They provide very good product support.

The initial setup of Aruba Wireless is not complicated. In the past, it was complicated, e.g. We needed experienced technical people to do the configuration and the initial setup. Nowadays, even basic technical people can do it.

It has improved, but what we are expecting is that when new technologies arise, along with the new technologies, the configuration should be simplified.

The cost for Aruba Wireless is good. It's attractive.

I evaluated Cisco Wireless.

Our company's role is system integrator. We are involved with products and solutions which we provide to the end customers. The products we provide vary, because it would depend on the requirement and customer requirement levels. It would also depend on the current pricing of the products, e.g. this is because we provide different vendor products, not just Aruba. We also provide Cisco, Maracas, and the entire product spectrum that we provide to the customers.

We provide the latest version of this product to our customers, because with the latest version, the benefit to the customers is that they can get the maximum usage of the product lifetime.

Other than the product features, our customers value our onsite support, onsite feedback, clarifications, and installations. We are able to quickly sort out the issues experienced by our customers.

For people who are not currently using Aruba Wireless, I would tell them to look into the Aruba product range and try it out for themselves. They'll find out that these are Amazing products with very good product support.

I'm rating Aruba Wireless an eight out ten, because no products could reach the perfect score of ten. Technology is fast-changing, so today's technology won't be tomorrow's technology. There's no technological vendor who could be ranked a ten, so my rating for this product is an eight.

We run a number of guest wireless networks with captive portals with layer 3 networks. We run .1x for corporate SSIDs or wireless networks for additional certificate-based and/or WPA2 security.

Aruba has a lot of features that work particularly well. One of the things that Aruba is trying to do in most of its product ranges to make sure that all of their products now have a fully functioning northbound set of APIs. That basically means that you can plug it into any kind of system that you have for some operational pieces. For example, if you want to have Tufin, but more in line with things like change management. We're a ServiceNow shop, so we use that for change management and orchestration.

The ability to use the APIs that are available in the Aruba Wi-Fi controller means that you can get information from the system very easily by using APIs, or you can push changes to it. So, if you want to lock administrators there and restrict the type of functions that people can do, you don't have to give them access to the systems anymore. 

This functionality has been useful for us because we have recently outsourced a lot of our lower operational tasks to an outside vendor. With that, obviously, other people need to access systems, but we don't always want to give them direct access to the system. So, we can provide them with APIs to be able to perform basic tasks without giving them access to our dashboard services.

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.

Currently, the stability of the code is the basic underlying problem for us. They had an 8.6 release that came out two weeks ago, but we had to migrate twice because the code wasn't stable. We can't get things to work the same way. Version 8 was a big change for them. They made a change so that it is forced to be a managed hierarchical system. It means that you make changes at the top, and it pushes them downstream. There are a lot of problems with the 8.6 version code. I ran into four bugs in one week and was informed that we should just move onto the next one because all of those fixes have taken place. The feedback loop for fixes is not always really relayed back to you.

I don't have a lot of strong things to say about version 8.6. When we had version 6, the controller was pretty much rock solid. We had no problems. We made a heavy investment to migrate a lot of stuff to take advantage of things like WPA3, Wi-Fi 6, and all that kind of stuff, and we haven't been able to turn those features on because we are not confident that they are going to work just yet. So, right now, we're still very much stumbling through the version 8.6 code and just trying to make sure that it is safe before we turn on some of those features. 

In terms of the marketplace, they are one of the top three leaders. In some respects, one of the things that they focus on is wireless. Therefore, there are some things that should be beyond reproach, as far as I'm concerned. In terms of the stability of the code, there are always going to be bugs, but the core stability of the code needs to be there. When it is not stable, that's a real problem for me because you lose a lot of confidence in the products.

I have been working with Aruba Wireless for about four years now.

It is pretty good. There are a lot fewer people in the office, obviously, because of COVID. Under normal situations, we were probably about 2,000 users a day. Between 40% to 50% of that would be corporate users with mobile devices, such as iPhones, as well as laptop users accessing corporate resources and the corporate LAN. We also have guest users.

They are really moving towards making it cloud-based and less attractive for you to use on-premises. There are still a number of limitations with the cloud. One of the reasons we don't use cloud controllers is that they're not able to support more than 250 access points per tenant instance. For example, you have two sites. One has 200 APs, and one has 300 APs. You could put one site in the cloud so that you wouldn't need to have on-premises wireless controllers. You could manage it all from the cloud instance, and you would have zero hardware and all that kind of stuff. 

However, you wouldn't be able to deploy the second site in the cloud because you can't put more than 250 APs. So, now you have got to go back to doing it the old-fashioned way, which is to have on-premises controllers or two management suites. You don't want to do that because the way this new code works is that it is hierarchical, meaning that you build your configuration centrally, and then you push it down to your access points or your local controllers. So, if you've got one management session in the cloud and one management session on-premises, you would have to manage them at two places.

I do understand that you can configure that local hardware. So, for the site that has 300 APs and a local controller, you could plug that controller into the cloud, but it is still for two different models. So, the companies that just want to have a very simplified setup or want to make it less complicated, they can just say that we're going to go cloud or just stay on-premises, but now you have to have a combination of both, or you just stay with on-premises. There are still some basic limitations preventing us from doing wireless deployments where controllers are based in the cloud.

I use them a lot. Sometimes, I use them every day. They are pretty good. There is a problem in getting hold of people. That may be just because of COVID, but it is very much dependent on when you call and the type of issue that you have.

If it is a fairly standard issue, if you need assistance with a programming or configuration change, or if you need to know how to do something, you can normally get a very quick resolution. The meantime for resolution is pretty quick. It is within that call, half an hour, or one hour. You can generally speak to somebody. If it is some of the things that I have experienced or a bug, it can be very problematic. It could take days or weeks to get resolutions.

The basic stuff is really good. Anything past that, you probably need to have a dedicated support engineer on your camp if you're big enough, or you need to have resources that really know how to do the legwork beforehand.

I worked for a company that had Cisco for many years. Actually, towards the end of that, I switched them from Cisco to Ruckus. I did a POC and a pilot between Ruckus and Aruba, and Ruckus came out on top because of its simplified approach to wireless networking. I have also used Meraki, which is Cisco's cloud-only based AP solution. 

Cisco is like the other de facto. A lot of shops are all Cisco. Their hardware is probably on par with Aruba in terms of processing and handling capabilities. Features are also probably the same. It is more like a Ford-GM question. If you were brought up in a Ford household, you are probably going to buy a Ford sort of thing. I don't think there is much to them, to be honest.

The differentiator for me is that Cisco has a product, which is its network access control system, called ISE or identity services engine. That's a terrible product. It really is an awful product. It is very cumbersome, and it makes adding network access control to your wireless and wired networks very problematic. Aruba's product is called ClearPass, and it is a very flexible tool and easy tool. It is a much more reliable tool. While it doesn't have all the features that you can use with Cisco, it is a standard network application system, which means it will work with any vendor for any system. So, you can do 90% to 95% of the stuff you want, and it is a much more stable and capable system. This difference and the price are differentiators for me. 

From a purely wireless perspective, I think that Aruba is number one. Cisco is a very close number two, and then Ruckus is actually a distant third. Ruckus doesn't have all of the advanced capabilities, but what it does, it does very well. If you want a very basic entry-level wireless that is cheap for K-12 schools or a lot of environments like that, you can use Ruckus. If you need some of the advanced stuff, then you're going to have to pick one of the other solutions.

I would say it is straightforward. It is just that it is a backward way of doing it. They had a fundamental shift in the way you deploy configurations in version 6 to version 8. So, basically, you would do one way in version 6, and then they completely reversed it in version 8. When you come into the product for the first time, it is easy and fairly straightforward. It is an easy adoption process. If you have got lots of experience with the previous version of code, such as version 6, and then you move to version 8, it is very confusing.

Aruba is probably cheaper than Cisco, and yet you get all the things that you want.

I would recommend Aruba Wireless, but it depends on the size and the scope. If you are a large-scale enterprise, you are going to need to deploy something large. If you are a big university or something, you are going to have to pick one of the big three, which, in this case, is going to be Cisco, Aruba, or Juniper. Juniper's Mist is a recent addition that is hugely popular right now because of a lot of the stuff it does in the cloud. They are all cloud-based controllers, and they integrate machine learning into all of your analytics to give you data. 

I think that Aruba Wireless is a good product overall. They have some code issues with this change as most vendors do when they go through a major change. The product hardware is really good, and they have additional capabilities that Cisco doesn't have, like being able to do per-port tunneling so that you can keep isolation on. They are building features, and you could only make use of these if you extend out and use all the Aruba products like Aruba switches, Aruba ClearPass, etc. 

I've had a couple of conversations with them about the next release, which is actually pending. I don't think it is happening this year. It will happen next year. Version 10 is their next step of code, and it is geared more towards automating a lot of the setup. There are still a lot of manual tasks that you have to do. The automation piece has been something that has really garnered a lot of interest from the wireless community in terms of being able to set networks up. You can just buy access points and just throw them up, and once they're powered on, they communicate with zero-touch provisioning and all that kind of stuff. A lot of the automated processes are coming along, such as the ability to tie in cloud-based analytics to look at your reports, training, or data, like Juniper Mist is doing.

There will also be a change in the user interface. They have now brought in things like COVID tracking. It is not like they are adding features that the market wants. They will add the ability for you to be able to write things that you want to see so that you can basically do your own SDK, if you like, and more easily be able to tie that into what you're doing. I'm not sure whether they'll offer that within the version 10 code.

I would rate Aruba Wireless a seven out of ten. The negatives are the instability with the specific versions of code. These could be specific versions of code, but the newer features, such as WPA, WiFi 6, require some of the newer code. The newer code isn't really very stable yet. The high point would be that it is still an industry leader with on par hardware and performance like anybody else.

I have worked with versions 2.207 and 3.303 and 305. Because I am the service provider for my customers, I've worked with Ruckus, Aruba, Cisco, and UniFi. Most of my customers ask for new wireless solutions. Last week I installed 37 access points. My customers are very satisfied.

Configuring the main controller is very easy; with Aruba, it's just plug-and-play. The roaming features are great too.

Most of the access points don't include the chargers. If you want to increase your coverage, then you need to have a charger. When our customers ask about access points, we always recommend Aruba; however, when we tell them that they need to buy the chargers separately, they become upset, saying: "We already bought Aruba access points, the chargers should come with it".

This is my main concern. In the last five years, I've installed nearly 300 Aruba access points and most of my customers have complained about the chargers. If this problem was addressed, I wouldn't have any other complaints.

I have been using this solution for five years.

I have not experienced any bugs, software, or hardware issues with Aruba.

This solution is both very stable and scalable. I want to mention something about Aruba's compatibility between various model types. If you already have version 207 installed and you want to switch to version 3.3, it's not compatible; you can't add it to your network. You need to create a standalone network for this access point only.

I only spoke with Aruba's technical support one time. With Aruba, you don't need a lot of support. It is very easy to use. 

The initial setup is very easy. You just need to configure the main device. If you have a standalone or virtual appliance, you can just configure it and install the rest without connecting to the main device.

Deployment time varies, but usually, it's very fast. Most of our customers need 10 access points on-site. For me, this only takes roughly 15 minutes to install.

I used to use Ruckus. Ruckus takes a long time to configure. Cisco takes longer too. Aruba is the easiest to install. Just configure the main device, and install the rest. Nothing else is required.

I'd like to mention something else. Last week, I installed roughly 37 access points — Aruba 303 I believe. Our clients complained about the coverage. Their access points should be able to cover 50 meters, but Aruba was only covering 25 to 30 meters, max. I know Aruba, and like anything, there are advantages and disadvantages. I like Aruba for its easy installation, management and because they provide the best and most optimized connection.

The most important thing is the heat map; you need to have a good heat map and make sure it's configured correctly with Aruba. If you don't have a heat map, you may have issues.

Here in Jordan, some providers will go to a company that requires 10 access points and tell them they only need five. In reality, they just want the job and the client. Then, after everything is said and done, the client complains about the five access points not covering the whole area. 

Some preparation is required before you can get started with Aruba. The total amount of power needed for the access points needs to be calculated. I would recommend doing this yourself as some companies just want to sell their products.

Companies in Jordan were quite loyal to Cisco, but in the last five months, I have installed roughly 500 Aruba Switches. Version 1920 is very popular; it's very fast and great for network stability.

Cisco and Aruba offer the same features. My customers don't need advanced features. What's the point in spending an extra $300-400 dollars for features you won't even use?

On a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of eight. If they increased their coverage, I would give them a rating of 15, not simply ten.

We use it to manage a substantial number of access points for our clients, ensuring reliable and secure wireless connectivity across their properties, including indoor and outdoor spaces. It helps streamline operations, and we are actively engaged in consulting and expanding our services in this regard.

It is highly stable and user-friendly. It provides excellent performance and security through the use of available features and policies, reducing the reliance on external firewall configurations while ensuring a secure and reliable network environment.

It would be helpful if they would release training materials and updates to enhance their offerings. When it comes to switching, there can be occasional variations, such as with the cooler switches. Also, there might be technical issues with the code that could lead to variations in performance. To enhance the system, more work on integration would be beneficial.

I have been working with it for four years now.

I am highly satisfied with its stability capabilities. I would rate it nine out of ten.

It provides good scalability abilities.

Its support services are satisfactory.

The initial setup was easy.

The deployment process can vary significantly based on the number of access points and the controller. When you're dealing with a large number of access points connected to a controller, it's important to monitor the synchronization process, which can take some time. Fortunately, there are features integrated into both the Access Point and the controller to help manage this process more effectively, help streamline the deployment process, and ensure it runs smoothly. It typically takes around two to three days for changes to become fully effective in the live customer environment.

It comes with a relatively higher price tag, but it's essential to assess the value it brings to the market because it actively competes with other players in the industry and dedicates efforts to offer competitive devices.

The product is known for its high quality and reliability, fulfilling its intended purpose effectively, which positions it as a practical and worthwhile option. Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.

Aruba Wireless is a little bit complex to use and operate. So, it can be an area for improvement.

I have been using Aruba Wireless for three to four years. Also, I don't remember the version of the solution I am using. I am a customer of the solution.

The product has been pretty stable.

The product is scalable. Around 150 people in my company are using the solution. We need only one administrator for the solution.

I haven't faced any problems with customer support.

Regarding the deployment process, it keeps showing updates.

A third party did the implementation. I'm not familiar with the setting. So, I got help from a consultant.

We have some licenses for the solution, and we need not renew licenses. But we need to pay a hundred thousand if you want to renew our subscription and renew the hardware. But if we switched to another solution like Ruckus, I think maybe it is just a similar amount even if we don't have the license. So we are considering this, but have not reached a decision yet. Also, we need to make additional payments for support.

Based on our evaluations, we are considering Ruckus and Ubiquiti over Aruba since Ruckus' and Ubiquiti's functions and settings are okay, making them easy to use.

Aruba Wireless will phase out. We are actually phasing out and looking at other solutions. We are switching because it's a bit expensive, so we are looking for a cheaper solution.

Because of the price and ease of use, I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.

We have 150 clients who are using this solution.

The solution is deployed on-premises.

The wireless controller and access points are valuable features.

The console is difficult to use. The firewall settings could be improved.

I have been working with Aruba Wireless for two years.

It's a stable solution.

The scalability is okay.

We had some complications with the controllers, so we received help from technical support when we couldn't find any tutorials online.

I would rate technical support as five out of five. They're very fast.

We have also used Cisco. Aruba's database is better compared to Cisco. We chose Aruba because the pricing is better.

Setup is straightforward.

Aruba is less expensive than Cisco.

I would rate this solution as nine out of ten.

I primarily use the solution for wireless connectivity.

I really appreciate the seamless mobility between access points.

The solution is very stable. 

It can scale as needed.

Technical support has been helpful. 

It did take us a while to get used to the setup.

We have had issues with the availability of the equipment. We always have trouble locating equipment, finding suppliers who sell it, or finding someone who has stock.

I've been using the solution for the past three years. 

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

We haven't had issues with scalability. It has met our needs so far. 

Our organization is quite sizeable, and 10,000 people alone are cell phone users. They all use Aruba Wireless. 

I've never dealt with technical support. 

I recall there was an issue that we had to call to contact technical support, and the architect contacted Aruba directly. It took them like three days to resolve the issue. Generally, my understanding is that they are helpful. 

Positive

I also have experience with Cisco Wireless solutions as well. 

The initial setup does take some getting used to. However, once you understand it, it's quite straightforward. 

I'd rate the ease of setup at a four and a half out of five. 

I don't have any insights into the exact cost of the solution. My understanding is that it is a bit more expensive than Cisco. I'd rate the affordability at a three out of five.

I'm not involved in the decision-making process regarding looking at solutions.

We're Aruba partners. 

New users need to understand the technical solution before considering it, especially if they're migrating from Cisco to Aruba. If that's the case, they need to understand Aruba before migrating fully. They shouldn't compare it as it's not apples to apples. 

I'd rate the product eight out of ten. 

At the time when we started implementing it, there wasn't enough experience in the market, so all the engineers and the architects had to learn from scratch. I also have a concern about the cost, which seems, from what I recall, a little bit higher than the one we were replacing. Otherwise, it's a very good, reliable product.

Our company uses the solution to provide wireless service for our clients. 

There are less than 100 users of the solution across clients.

The solution provides a clear path to instant wireless. 

The solution needs to add features and enhance security. 

I have been using the solution for ten years.

The solution is very stable. 

The solution is scalable. 

The solution provides separate support lines for distributors and vendor specialists.

I rate technical support a ten out of ten. 

Positive

Our company has been a partner of the solution for the last ten years. 

The setup is easy and normally it goes smoothly. 

We partnered with a certified specialist for implementation. 

Two in-house engineers handle all maintenance. 

We also work with Cisco products.

I recommend using the solution and rate it a ten out of ten.