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ADTRAN Bluesocket Wireless vs Aruba Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

ADTRAN Bluesocket Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
28th
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Aruba Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
151
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of ADTRAN Bluesocket Wireless is 0.8%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba Wireless is 12.9%, down from 16.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Wireless12.9%
ADTRAN Bluesocket Wireless0.8%
Other86.3%
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1397640 - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President of Business and Finance at a university with 201-500 employees
Access points work but there are problems with support, scalability, and keeping technology current
Having a better dashboard management system that the client can use to access and control their environment would be a nice addition to the product. They said it was going to be part of one of their updates, but we did not get it. We thought we should have in one of the updates that we did. With that, we would have been able to control the environment if we needed to do something like adding more bandwidth in certain areas. Not getting that update became kind-of problematic for us. That was one of the reasons why we had to try to find a solution with a better dashboard management system. I think they need to get the product to the next Gen. Currently they are running on Generation 5. I know that they have a new product almost ready to come out, but they are not really ready for Gen 6 yet. Support could be enhanced as well. With any one of their solutions, they are the means that provides the client with the flexibility and scalability to help manage the product. Instead of the current system where you have to send them a support ticket and then have to go back and forth to get something done, I just think that users should have better control over the process. Their current process does not allow you to have that kind of control. That may be just my limited experience.
CK
Network Administrator at Nippon Express Canada Ltd.
Wireless network has supported long-term reliable access and simplifies RF optimization
I have experience with Cisco products and the Cisco brand. The product is mainly a hardware product. Regarding the software part, I don't have a lot of experience. Aruba Wireless was not too difficult to set up. When compared with other products such as Cisco, they also have products with wireless controllers, and it's similar to that. I think it should be recommended for both bigger and smaller companies based on the feedback and our experience. I believe there should be AI functions that might help us in some cases of cybersecurity matters, detecting threats regarding security would be better with AI. For this role, I have more than twenty years of experience. I would rate Aruba Wireless eight out of ten overall.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I believe the initial setup was straightforward."
"It has allowed our SMB team to provide an easy wireless solution."
"Being able to centralize the wireless environment using virtual machines and having all AP management in the same place (our data centers) is very big because now we don't have to manage multiple devices out in the field and costs also go down because now you don't have to worry about maintenance on those controllers."
"The Adtran 3448, Adtran 1531P, and Adtran 160 AP are deployed for a customer in their retail clothing environment, constituting the network infrastructure on each retail site location and supporting IP cameras, Mobile POS on iPads, people counters, and traditional POS registers."
"Aruba is an excellent option for campus wireless."
"The Aruba Central portal is a good interface that helps us monitor the wireless devices extensively. Furthermore, the access points we use, mainly API nine zero five, are working well."
"Aruba gives me the security that I need because we have WiFi for employees and the public, and it allows me to monitor them and block them or do whatever I need to to keep them in check."
"The APs has a very competitive price and the functionality is really good."
"Its manageability of APs is the most valuable feature: ease of adding APs and the ability to configure the APs on the fly. Also, their support engineers are great to work with."
"There are a couple of valuable features of Aruba Wireless for us, with ClearPass as an authentication product and AirWave as a reporting function that allows us to do different reporting on WiFi utilization at our different campuses so I can break down different areas of the college and find out how many users are using the network at any given time and the utilization of different access points, which allows me to do capacity management."
"The most valuable features of Aruba Wireless are the seamless feature and the concurrent user."
"The biggest selling point was the ability to create two different SSIDs to control public versus private wireless networks."
 

Cons

"Support is not really up to par in quickly addressing issues."
"Having a better dashboard management system that the client can use to access and control their environment would be a nice addition to the product."
"From my knowledge, we feel that this solution is not scalable enough for us."
"The AP160 is dated and not yet integrated into the Bluesocket family and we can't run a good Bluesocket cloud solution with the router 3448."
"Customer Service: Moderate. Technical Support: Moderate."
"Additional features other vendors have might be useful as well as an MDM integration."
"The speed could be better. I heard that Aruba is trying to shape the speed inside the wireless controller, but that has not been adopted yet. If they put some kind of mechanism inside the wireless controller for the speed such that, "Okay, this many users will have 20 by 20 - 20 in the upload, 20 in the download. Just this many users. And this many users will have that type of speed." I think it would be very good if they actually bring that functionality inside the wireless controller."
"I believe more security options are needed."
"If you want a centralized management system that is able to manage all your networking devices such as the wireless, the switch, the routers, and the firewall, then Aruba may not be the one, because Aruba doesn't do firewalls."
"They should simplify the configuration flow."
"Because it's cloud-based, it takes time for the floor maps and the heat map to load."
"Configuration could be made easier with more bandwidth than they offer at the moment."
"When we need to escalate to a priority one case it is difficult."
"The support should be faster."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It cost over $30,000 for us for 260 access points."
"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."
"Get multiple bids/quotes, and talk to the representatives about the limitations of the product; pretty standard."
"Aruba Wireless is the best for the price. Aruba Wireless is the least expensive, the second is Huawei, and the most expensive is Cisco."
"​We will be buying the ClearPass solution, which will be pricey. However, in the trial version, it has even more tools to manage a busy network.​"
"Customers have to pay for perpetual licenses with Aruba controller licenses, depending on the features they are looking for."
"If you compare it to other solutions then it's reasonably priced."
"The price is reasonable."
"The access points are more cost-effective over some other providers, both in cost per AP and the option of a controller-less environment."
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Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
President at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Mar 24, 2015
Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions
Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business77
Midsize Enterprise47
Large Enterprise77
 

Questions from the Community

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What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?
Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?
At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What did we like about Ruckus? First, it was very easy to use, and anybody with minimal...
How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?
On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three hours, the basic framework can be set up. Step-by-step instructions are availabl...
 

Also Known As

Adtran WLAN, Bluesocket Wireless
Aruba WLAN, HP WLAN, HP Wireless, Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Point
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Thomas College, North Cobb Christian School, Archbishop Riordan High School, Dickson Public Schools, Hamilton Heights School Corporation, North Idaho College
Consulate Health Care, Los Angeles Unified School District, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), San Diego State University, KFC, ACTS Retirement-Life Communities
Find out what your peers are saying about ADTRAN Bluesocket Wireless vs. Aruba Wireless and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.