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Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Ruckus Wireless WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
Wireless LAN (4th)
Ruckus Wireless WAN
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Wireless WAN (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is designed for Wireless LAN and holds a mindshare of 12.3%, down 12.4% compared to last year.
Ruckus Wireless WAN, on the other hand, focuses on Wireless WAN, holds 35.6% mindshare, down 36.9% since last year.
Wireless LAN
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

RezaPradipta - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamline network management with a unified dashboard for seamless device integration
The primary use case for Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN is mostly for enterprise wireless, including guest Wi-Fi and enterprise Wi-Fi. I use it across various industries with a focus on retail Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN offers a single pane of glass management. It only comes with a controller on the…
Udit Narayan - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers robust outdoor connectivity, but signal strength and support need improvement
In Cisco, there is a configuration where it automatically switches from the 2.4 GHz to 5.2 GHz frequency. But with Ruckus, usually, we need to manually define whether we want to use the 2.4 GHz or 5.2 GHz. Another point is that its penetration power is low when we are using it in any location with more walls, as the signal strength diminishes. So, the signal strength and the penetration power of the signal should be improved. It is not like Cisco. We are using Cisco APs also, but Cisco APs perform better when we compare them with Ruckus. In future releases, I would like to see automatic switching between 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz frequencies. We should not have to set it manually. It should automatically change its frequency based on the load. For example, if the number of users increases, then its frequency should change automatically, switching to the less congested band.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the status page Cisco added that shows you the health of the wireless connection."
"It is very handy to have a support number to call."
"The network security the solution provides is its most valuable aspect."
"Cloud managed wireless LAN product that's stable and scalable. It's an easy to deploy and easy to troubleshoot solution."
"Cisco provides 24/7 support"
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"The product is super stable. I would rate the stability a ten."
"I would recommend Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN simply because of the ease of deployment and its reliability."
"The analytic solution is good and should be improving further."
"What I like best about Ruckus Wireless WAN is easy administration. After installation, you'll benefit from how easy it is to administer the product. I also like that the product can cover the whole area with just a few endpoints."
"There are numerous features, but what I like about Ruckus is that they have a good coverage range due to their BeamFlex technique."
"Ruckus Wireless WAN’s most valuable feature is unleashed."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of adding an access point."
"The performance of this solution is amazing in terms of radiofrequency technology."
"The most valuable features include the insights provided by the tool, its easy deployment, the sturdy and reliable hardware, and the quick and smooth RMA process. It is one of the top wireless vendors with very few issues to support."
"Its build quality is good and quite robust."
 

Cons

"I would like to see Cisco Meraki improve the accessibility by region level here in Latin America."
"Meraki should share their viability roadmap. It is really hard to know which functionality will appear or when they will be available. It is also hard to know which features are available now but are not visible on the dashboard."
"I would like to see integration with sensors."
"The most important improvement needed is to eliminate the limitation of uplinks."
"In the next release, I would like to see the central control plane have the flexibility to control and distribute policies to all LAN networks, balance the traffic, and the performance based on application monitoring."
"Our only concern at this stage is how it's licensed."
"Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN's management tools need enhancement."
"If you lose connectivity with the controller, your Wi-Fi network is immediately impacted."
"I would like to see IoT device support available with WiFi six. IoT is used by all businesses. They are now using IoT devices. It is required."
"There could be more power supply for the radio features."
"Pricing could be improved in Ruckus Wireless WAN because obviously, everybody wants things to become cheaper. Another room for improvement in the product is from a delivery perspective, particularly the heavy delivery delays because of the chip shortage that a lot of manufacturers have to deal with. The chip shortage is not coming to an end, but Ruckus Networks has to make a plan because the ETA has slipped out from the average of three months on switches to fourteen months, which is very, very rough on the industry at the moment. Ruckus Wireless WAN could lose business to Chinese competitors, for example, HTC has a good wireless solution that I haven't tested yet, other than on POC, and it works great. I haven't yet experienced the HTC wireless solution in large deployments, so you never know how it's going to go, but HTC has managed to circumvent the chip shortage, so the ETA provided by HTC is much more preferred than the ETAs provided by Ruckus Networks, Cisco, and Aruba products."
"There is a significant issue with wireless functionality in Apple devices, particularly during video calls."
"Ruckus Unleashed App has areas with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"I have been working with WiFi for more than 17 years. I am not able to convince customers because of the pricing of the solution. Otherwise, we could have sold lots of this tool to the customers."
"We have one sole distributor here in our region. To have multiple distributors here would be very helpful to improve the supply chain."
"There is a need for more flexibility in granular access control."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The platform is more expensive than other solutions."
"Meraki is a very good solution, but the price is quite high for small markets."
"This solution is quite costly and there are costs in addition to the licensing fees."
"Cost could be better."
"The solution is overpriced and more expensive than Hauwei."
"As is always the case, the price could be better, although I do not recall exactly how much this comes out to."
"It is expensive."
"It is a relatively expensive solution compared to traditional network alternatives."
"The product's pricing is aggressive."
"I am not satisfied with the pricing of the solution."
"The product has competitive pricing."
"There is an annual license needed to use this solution. The pricing model is based on how many access points are used."
"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"The cost of licensing varies."
"The price of Ruckus Wireless WAN is in the middle price range compared to competitors. You will find Cisco is the most expensive, the second is HPE and Aruba, and the third is Ruckus Wireless WAN. You then have all the follower solutions."
"This product is worth the money that is spent on licensing fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to be very reliable and to consistently run very efficiently. Cisco Wireless helpe...
How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...
Is Ubiquiti Wireless better than Ruckus Wireless WAN?
Ubiquiti Wireless is extremely easy to set up and is an excellent option for small businesses, offering enterprise features for a one-time fee and no ongoing licensing fees. Ubiquiti Wireless is ve...
What do you like most about Ruckus Wireless WAN?
Ruckus Wireless WAN is an easy-to-use solution.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ruckus Wireless WAN?
The price is always on the higher side, which impacts the perception of return on investment.
 

Also Known As

MR18, MR26, MR32, MR34, MR66, MR72, Meraki Wireless LAN, Meraki WLAN
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins
American University of Sharjah, Dordt College, Drew University, Lamar University, Raroa School
Find out what your peers are saying about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ruckus, Cisco and others in Wireless LAN. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.