Ruckus Wireless Reviews

We primarily use the solution for its performance, compatibility, and capability.

We do a lot of schools, some colleges, large civic centers, large arenas, that kind of stuff. We know how to deploy this so that they get great client connectivity and have easy guest onboarding. We can onboard guests really easily. Each guest that connects has a pre-shared key that they get. They're all unique. We have some great control over guest traffic, and great control over say, corporate traffic. We control how much bandwidth a guest user gets versus a corporate user, and who gets priority on the network.

When COVID happened, we deployed external access points to the outside of a lot of the buildings that are very weather-resistant, all-metal enclosures, and their students have been able to do assignments and schoolwork and that kind of stuff from the parking lots of the schools. They can drive up in their car, get their assignments, or do work that they need to while they're connected to the school. It made it pretty seamless as everything was already set up on their laptops. Most of the schools are what they call the one-to-one initiatives, where every student gets a laptop. They've been able to work through COVID from their cars in parking lots when they need to be at the school for something. It's really benefited a lot of the schools to be able to do that.

The solution has an easy configuration.

The performance is good.

Ruckus is way ahead of the game on a lot of stuff, like Wi-Fi 6. They're already rolling out their second version of Wi-Fi 6 which is a huge improvement over even Wi-Fi 5. The way wireless started is you had 802.11b, 802.11a, then 802.11g and 802.11n, then 802.11ac, then AC wave 2, 802.11ax, which is Wi-Fi 6, the first version. Now, the next version of Wi-Fi 6 is rolling out already.

These guys are an engineering company that has some very awesome patterns on how their radios work and their antennas and antenna patterns, and how their signaling and stuff works. That's why nobody can touch them. If they go head-to-head with anybody, they blow Cisco and Aruba out of the water, and Mist, for radio client connectivity. 

They compete head-to-head with all the big names.

As far as what they can improve, that's a good question, as they're leaders in what they do in my opinion. I don't know what they can do to improve what they're doing currently. 

They're not the most expensive, and they're not the least expensive. They're right there in the middle. Pricing might be a deciding factor for some companies. If they were cheaper, they might land more customers.

They've got a rotation or a life expectancy of about four years for the radio. Not that the radio is going to die. I've got some that are way older than that that the customers are still using. However, they take them and they end the life of them at four years.

Many of their wireless products are end of life by year four. That's most of it as technology has changed so much that those old radios can't do stuff that is now available for PCs to connect or phones to connect to, etc. What they do is they force you into upgrading. We've got a couple of cloud controllers. If I've got a cloud controller that is in the same version 5.1, and I want to go to version 5.2, due to the fact that I need to support the new radios coming out, I can't if I have some older radios on that controller. They make it so I can't upgrade that controller to the latest software to support the new radios as I've got some end of life radios on there that go end of life when I upgrade the software.

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. We have some customers that have just a few APs, small businesses that don't want to or don't need to upgrade their controllers. For us to be able to work with their latest access points, we've got to upgrade their controller, but we can't as it's got some older ones on it, and that bites us every year.

I know the reasoning behind it. It's because it could be security features or it's something that the access points don't support that newer devices do, like your laptops and cell phones. They'll support this new Wi-Fi 6 coming out, yet I can't run the same types of radios on this particular controller software anymore. They can't have both. That kind of puts me off a little bit. But that's the only thing that the company's done that's made me mad.

There's a lot of new features coming out of Wi-Fi 6 that they don't even have the chips in the phones for yet. 

I've been using the solution for six years or so at this point.

The solution is very stable. We don't have any issues with it at all.

The solution is very scalable. I can have up to three controllers, each one housing 10,000 APs. Therefore, I can have a cluster of controllers controlling 30,000 different APs. I don't have anything that big. The closest one is close to 1000, however, still, it's nice to be able to have redundancy. I can build in more redundancy if I need to. 

As a Ruckus partner, I've got access to Ruckus. I've got access to tech support and it makes things a lot easier for our end-users and the businesses that I work with. If they have an issue they can come directly to me, or they can go directly to Ruckus. It doesn't matter. I'll be happy to help them. If I can't answer the question or get them fixed, then we'll deal with tech support. I don't call tech support very often. Maybe once a year, if that. They make a good product and have good training. Once you learn it, it's pretty easy to manage. We used to have Cisco's products die on us every one or two years. I don't know the last time I had to turn in an RMA for a Ruckus radio. They have a solid product.

I've been doing it a long time, so for me, the setup is straightforward. If a person is a brand new to the system, like any system, it can be fairly complex. However, they have great documentation on their website on how to set it up. To do very complex things, that takes somebody who knows what they are doing. I've got a very complex scenario that I need to set up then that's what I get paid for - to help set that stuff up. I will go in and configure things securely for guest access and BYOD devices and corporate laptops with 802.1x. 

You can have a controller version, or it could be a controller-less. I have a standalone AP, I just got one office with one AP, I don't need it to be controlled by anything. I've got one or two SSIDs, and that can still be configured. It's just that you're doing it on the AP or they have what's called Unleashed, which is controller-less. The AP is the controller and that can do up to 50 APs all controlled by one AP. But if that AP was to die, it doesn't matter that configuration is saved on all of them and the next one in line will just take over as the controller AP. There are several different interfaces you may run into to be able to configure the things, however, they're all very similar in how they work and react. The full controller has much more capability than Unleashed, and Unleashed has more capability than the standalone. 

In terms of deployment, we figure for an AP it's about an hour and a half. That's for both configuration and installation. Therefore, if you have 20 APs, it's about 30 hours for 25 APs. That's setting up the controller, virtual or cloud-based, setting up the APs, your SSIDs, passwords, 802.1x, and then physically mounting them.

Our clients definitely get a return on investment when they purchase Ruckus.

We are a customer and reseller.

I'm using the latest version of the solution.

Through a controller, we use 802.1x. There are multiple ways to deploy it to customers, including via a cloud controller. We typically do a virtual controller on our client's systems.

I would advise, if a company is new to Ruckus, to work with a partner. It's important to have somebody that knows what they're doing, and knows what questions to ask so that you're getting the right information. When I go to do an implementation, I've got a list of 50 different questions. I'll ask somebody, what about this? What about this? What about this?

You get what you pay for. People will throw in Lynksys and this other home stuff up. I'll say, that's great. If you're a business, it won't cut it. Say you're a coffee shop and I've got 50 customers sitting side. you want all of them to get the same performance all the time. If I've got three people, four people in that coffee shop streaming videos or watching movies or whatever it might be, I want to make sure everybody gets an equal amount of time without anybody getting any interruptions. With Linksys and Ubiquiti and all these other brands, you don't get that. In head to head competition, Ruckus far outshines them 10 to one. You just can't compete. When they say it's going to do something, it'll do it. They don't put documentation out that is misleading. If it says it'll do 1,024 clients it'll do 1,024 clients. If it says it'll do 4.3 gigabytes, it'll do 4.3 gigabytes.

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

We primarily use the solution for its performance, compatibility, and general capabilities. We do a lot of schools, colleges, large civic centers, large arenas, etc. That kind of stuff. We know how to deploy this so that the clients get great client connectivity.

In terms of COVID, we've deployed external access points to the outside of a lot of the buildings. These are very weather-resistant, all-metal enclosures. The students have been able to do assignments and schoolwork and that kind of stuff from the parking lots of the schools. They can drive up in their car, get their assignments, or do work that they need to while they're connected to the school. It made social distancing in this way pretty seamless as everything was already set up on their laptops. Most of the schools are what they call the one-to-one initiative, where every student gets a laptop and they've been able to work through COVID from their cars in parking lots when they needed to be at the school for something. It's really benefited a lot of the schools to be able to do that.

The performance of the product is amazing.

The ease of configuration that's on offer is very good.

The product is very compatible with other solutions.

The guest onboarding is so simple. We can onboard guests really easily. Each guest that connects has a pre-shared key that they get which are all unique. We have some great control over the guest and corporate traffic. We can control how much bandwidth a guest user gets versus a corporate user, and who gets priority on there. 

Ruckus is way ahead of the game on a lot of stuff like Wi-Fi 6. They're already rolling out the second version of Wi-Fi 6, which is a huge improvement over even Wi-Fi 5. The way wireless started is you had 802.11b, 802.11a, then 802.11g and 802.11n, then 802.11ac, then AC wave to 802.11ax which is the first version of Wi-Fi 6. The next version of Wi-Fi 6 is rolling out already.

The product has some very awesome patents on their radios and their antennas and antenna patterns and how their signaling works. That's why nobody can touch them. If they go head to head with anybody. They blow Cisco and Aruba out of the water and even Mist for radio plant connectivity. On top of that, they have very good engineering. If I ever need help with engineering stuff, I can call on them. The company does a really good job, which is why we've stayed with them.

They're leaders in what they're doing. I don't know what they can do to improve what they're doing currently. 

The cost could be slightly improved. It's not on the low end, and it's not in the high end. It's in that middle area, which can be a deciding factor between someone going with this solution versus another one.

They've got a rotation or a life expectancy of about four years for the radio. Not that radio is going to die right hten. I've got some that are way older than that, that the customers are still using. However, they take them and they end the life of them at four years. Any of their wireless products are end of life by year four. Most of it's because technology has changed so much that those old videos can't do stuff that is now available for PCs to connect or phones to connect to that kind of stuff. 

What they do is they force you into a Cloud controller. We've got a couple of them. If I've got a Cloud controller there and it's on version 5.1, and I want to go to version 5.2, bdue to the fact that I need to support the new radios coming out, I can't if I have some older radios on that controller. I can't upgrade that controller to the latest software to support the new radios as I've got some end of life radios on there that go into life when I upgrade the software. They need to be able to allow us to keep some of the older products on the Cloud controllers or any of their controllers longer, and just start supporting the new controllers. They force you into an upgrade unnecessarily.

We have some customers that have just a few APs. There are some small businesses that don't want to, or don't need to upgrade their controllers and they're crushing their access points. For us to be able to work with the latest access points, we've got to upgrade our controller, however, we can't. That bites us every year. We'll have customers that have APs that are going end of life that still work fine, but we can't manage them anymore.

I know the reasoning behind it is it could be security features or it's something that the access points don't support that newer devices do. They'll support this new Wi-Fi 6 coming out, however, I can't run the same types of radios on this particular controller software anymore. That kind of puts me off a little bit, however, that's the only thing that the company has done that's made me mad.

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

The stability of the product is rock solid. We haven't had any issues at all.

The solution is extremely scalable. I can have up to three controllers with each one housing 10,000 APS. I can have a cluster of controllers controlling 30,000 different APS. I don't have anything that big. One is close to a thousand and that's the biggest I have. Still, it's nice to be able to build in more redundancy. 

As a Ruckus partner, I've got access to Ruckus. I've got access to tech support, and it makes things a lot easier for the end-users and businesses I work with. If they have an issue, they can come directly to me or they can go directly to Ruckus, it doesn't matter. I'll be happy to help them. If I can't answer the question or get them fixed, then we'll get with tech support. I don't call tech support very often. Maybe once a year, if that. They make a good product and offer good training. Once you learn it, it's pretty easy to manage. 

We used to have Cisco's products for one or two years. I don't know the last time I had to turn in an RMA for a Ruckus radio. They're a solid product.

I've been doing implementations for a long time. If it's brand new to the system, like any system, it can be fairly complex. However, they have great documentation on their website on how to set it up. If a client needs complexity, however, they need help. That's where I come in.

I can go in and configure things securely for guest access and BYOB devices and corporate laptops with 802.1X. I have a stand-alone AP, I just got one office with one AP. I don't need it to be controlled by anything. If I've got one or two SSID, it can still be configured. It's just that you're doing it on the AP or, alternatively, they have what's called Unleashed, which is controller-less. The AP is the controller that can do up to 50 APs all controlled by one AP. If that AP was to die, it doesn't matter, that configuration is saved on all of them. 

There are several different interfaces you may run into, to be able to configure everything. However, they're all very similar in how they work and react. The full controller has much more capability than Unleashed and at least has more capability on the stand-alone. In any case, it's all well documented, and all straightforward.

In terms of deployment times, we figure for AP it's an hour and a half, so you can just figure in that as the base amount of time you need for each AP and that includes configuration and installation. Therefore, if you have 20 APs, it's about 30 hours for 25 APs and that's setting up the controller virtual, or Cloud-based, setting up the AP, the SSIDs, passwords, 802.1X., and then physically mounting them.

The solution definitely offers my clients a good ROI after they implement it.

They don't really need to be cheaper. They're not the most expensive, and they're not the least expensive. They're right there in the middle.

We're a reseller as well as a customer.

We're running the latest software. We deploy through a controller and we use 802.1X. There're multiple ways to deploy to customers. There's a cloud controller, for example. We typically do a virtual controller on their systems.

If a company is new to Ruckus, it's best to work with a partner. You need somebody that knows what they're doing, and knows what questions to ask so that you're getting the right information. When I go to do an implementation, I've got a list of 50 different questions. I'll ask somebody, what about this? What about this? What about this? It will help with the implementation process if someone has a complete view of what to ask for and what to do.

You get what you pay for. People will throw in Linksys, and this other stuff. If you're a business, say you're a coffee shop and you have 50 customers sitting there. You want all of them to get the same performance all the time. I want to make sure everybody gets an equal amount of time without anybody getting any interruptions.

With Linksys and Ubiquiti and all these other brands, you don't get that. When it comes to the head-to-head competition, the Ruckus far out-shines them. Ten to one, you just can't compete. When they say it's going to do something, it does it. They don't put documentation out that is misleading. If it says it'll do 1,024 clients it'll do 1,024 clients. If it says it'll do 4.3 gigabytes, it'll do 4.3 gigabytes. It's great.

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

We primarily use the solution for our roaming users with laptops. 

The connectivity is good. It's fine for my users and me. 

It's stable. 

Scalability is good.

Users often see a very good ROI.

Technical support is helpful and responsive.

For the most part, we haven't had any complaints about its capabilities. 

It could be cheaper. 

The setup can be quite complex. 

We've been using the solution for eight years. 

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

Only administrators have access to the actual solution. We have 120 end-users.

It is a scalable solution. Expansion is not an issue. 

We do not plan to increase usage at this time. 

Technical support is very nice. They are helpful and responsive. We are very satisfied with the level of service we get. 

Positive

Depending on the setup or configuration, the implementation can be complex. Some access configurations can be difficult. 

If an engineer is familiar with the product and knows the requirements, they can deploy the product in a matter of minutes. Only a few would be required during setup.

We handled the deployment in-house. We also maintain the product in-house. 

We have seen a positive ROI. I'd rate it nine out of ten. 

The solution is very expensive. I'd rate it eight out of ten in terms of expense.

You can procure the devices, however, then you must consider support. You do have to buy support contracts. If you go for a controller, then you have to buy the support.

I'd recommend the solution. Product-wise, it is very good; however, cost-wise, it is expensive. 

I mostly use this solution for Office Wi-Fi, but also for hotspots.

I like the controller more informative and easier to set up. They're a bit expensive, but the device performance is amazing.

There is room for improvement in the pricing. It could be improved. 

I have been using this solution for five years. I've used versions from the R7363 up to the R730 of the R510, R610, and R600 series, up to the RCV.

It is a very stable solution.

It's scalable with a very good range. On the deployment, I have a hotspot with about maybe 2,0000 users every day. I also used it in some enterprises and homes as standard stand alone units. 

The setup is a little bit complex, but it's slightly easier than UniFi's original setup. When growing the network, it's easier. Working with individual units is easy because I can get more information from them.

The deployment is really, and took just a couple of hours.

The deployment was done in-house.

Basically, set up the controller. Once the controller is set up, every unit connected to the system shows up in the system, and it's just adopted. A little bit of fine-tuning, and it's good to go.

Maintenance is really easy. I just have three technicians, on a permanent basis. But for tasks like cabling, I run all those myself. I use temporary staff when needed.

It is worth the money we are paying for this solution.

The pricing is expensive. We pay yearly license. There are no additional costs to the standard license. 

In my experience, I rate Ruckus almost a ten out of ten. It's really the best solution I've worked with.

I would suggest to go for it. It is a really good product.

The solution is used for public Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi solution provides internet connectivity in the public platform.

The tool needs to incorporate training. Also, it needs to improve the range of coverage.

I have been using the solution for five to seven years.

The solution is very stable.

The tool is scalable. We have over 300 users for the solution. We plan to increase the number of users.

The tool’s technical support is good.

The number of people required for the tool’s deployment depends on the circumstances.

The tool is a good investment.

The tool’s pricing is competitive with other alternative solutions’ pricing.

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. I would definitely recommend the solution. It's a robust solution that can help people to achieve their goals. You need to be properly trained to use it. The product brand can grow with online training and certification.

The smart antenna is very good. The Ruckus equipment includes an array of antennas that move the radiation pattern in the direction that is more demanding of the service. Now, it's a standard in the new access points of almost all the vendors, but in some cases it's not enough. With Ruckus, you have very good performance, and the smart antennae is the key feature to deliver that kind of performance.

The cost could be improved.

Ruckus is a little bit complicated. They weren't using the cloud at the beginning. Later, they included a cloud platform, so it became an easier deployment.

Ruckus is more expensive than Meraki, but the performance moves in parallel with the cost.

If you want to deliver a very good and reliable network, don't introduce Meraki. I would go with Ruckus.

I would rate Ruckus as nine out of ten.

Our primary use case for the solution is connecting customers easily with access points, which we deploy on-premises.

We are using cloud and Lyft, and it's on directly. We work with Flexi meters.

The product licensing could be improved. We are currently facing some challenges with licensing for one of the customers for RUCKUS Cloud. We have been implementing RUCKUS Wireless for three years. However, two days ago, we activated licenses for 61 devices and 15 automatically, but it is not synced to the RUCKUS Cloud. Hence, we activated it in the cloud and the support portal, but we are not accepted in the RUCKUS Cloud. Additionally, Wireless LAN can be included in a future release.

We have been using the solution for approximately two years.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable, and we have approximately 50 users utilizing the solution. I rate it an eight out of ten.

I rate customer service and support a five out of ten.

Neutral

We previously used Aruba, but we chose this solution because of its performance and configuration.

The initial setup is straightforward.

I rate the solution a six out of ten. 

We primarily use the solution for wireless access points. 

It has improved our organization compared to what we were using earlier. We have the ability for maximum users, greater connectivity to the bandwidth, what we can get across, and the overall power of the device has improved in terms of the number of connections and also the distance it covers. We get more device strength with Ruckus. 

Floor-to-floor and room-to-room movement are great. Everything is seamless.

The device offers good connectivity. We had a lot of issues with earlier access points, and now we are not hearing those complaints anymore from end users. There is now consistent performance from the device. The stability is good. 

It is easy to set up. 

It's very scalable. 

The pricing is reasonable. 

The delivery time of the hardware needs to be improved. Right now, we have to wait more than 12 weeks in India. The expected arrival dates keep getting postponed, and we don't have any idea as to why. 

We've been using the solution for almost four months now. 

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches, and the connectivity is seamless. I'd rate the stability eight out of ten.

This is a highly scalable solution. I'd rate it nine out of ten in terms of the ability to expand. 

right now, we have about 350 users, and we are at 60% capacity. We're not sure if we will increase usage. We'll have to do a heat map and see if it is necessary for the future. 

We've never had to reach out to technical support. We've never had any issues with the product. 

The initial setup is very simple. I'd rate the process nine out of ten in terms of simplicity. It hardly takes ten to 15 minutes to set everything up. Booting only takes 30 seconds. It's the configuration that may take ten minutes. 

We only need one person to handle the deployment. One is enough for any size of deployment. 

Deployment we do with the vendor only. Any further maintenance we do on our own.

There is an ROI in the sense that there is a general improvement in the quality in terms of connected devices. There are no drops in packages, and the wireless is seamless. 

The pricing is okay. I'd rate it at a seven out of ten. 

We have tried many products and ultimately decided on Ruckus. We looked at Cisco, Meraki, and Aruba. 

We have a vendor partnership.

This is a hardware solution based on-premises. 

I'd recommend the solution to other users. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.