Aruba Instant Reviews

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.

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. 

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. 

We primarily use the solution for surfing and browsing. Students would use it for social media. Professionals might use it for video calling or video conferencing as well. These would be the cases.

I really like the Instant On app. It keeps giving me feedback on whether one point is connected or not. I don't know which category this would fall under, yet that's what I really care about. I want to know which access point is currently on, whether it's connected or not, and if it serves the users that are connected to it.

That would be the main thing I would care about in an app since, with other configurations, you can figure out everything on your own. You just need to stay alert, and constantly knowing if that node is on is very useful. 

I like the notifications. I really like that it gives me those reports in terms of whether those access points are on or off. 

Overall, the product is good. It is scalable and reliable. 

The restart time should be improved. Whenever one access point has to restart, it takes about 15 minutes to get back in business, and that's a long time. Whether it's some kind of a malfunction or a software update, it takes really long for it to get back up. That would be my main issue.

When you look at networks, it's not really all about the access point. It's also about the other products you need to connect to, and when it comes to the kind of devices and products here available in my market, they're usually slow to get here. For example, if you talk about Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6 has been deployed in Europe and the US for about a year or two years now. The only AP I have that supports Wi-Fi 6 is the AP22. However, I'm not sure about other products that can utilize the Wi-Fi 6 anyway. If you talk about laptops, I'm not sure if they all support Wi-Fi 6 or if they are available here in my country. You usually get those improvements by default if they are going to launch a new product. I hope this happens with Aruba.

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

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

The solution can easily scale. 

You can even make points talk to each other using the cable or a wireless signal. It's really nice.

We have 200 to 300 people using the solution right now. 

I haven't tried any technical support. 

I haven't tried many access points. However, I've worked with Fortinet and FortiApp, and of course, I've worked with Aruba and when it comes to restarting an access point, the time to get back up and online and connected and all that is much shorter on Fortinet. 

The Aruba implementation was really easy. All you need to do is create an account and then tell it whether you want it to be an extension of your current network or to assign different IP ranges. Then, you set up the networks, and that's it. It was up and running in 15 minutes or less.

The only issue is when you add your access points, it takes about seven to ten minutes to be discoverable by the app. That's about it. That's about the worst thing when it comes to timing - to discover that there's a new access point connected. That said, once it's connected, it's up and running in no time.

We do not need many admins for maintenance. We just need one. It's basically my assistant and me, and we're funded. I've had no issues with it whatsoever. 

Unless it's a hardware problem - and I have not experienced that yet, and I hopefully won't. You might need to contact the manufacturer themselves to do the work to get it fixed. However, I haven't experienced anything like that yet.

I'm located in Palestine. I bought it from another person who got it from the main distributor and got it to me. This is how it works. While it depends on the model, compared to other products, it's fairly priced.

I'm not sure about pricing worldwide since it could be different. However, it's one of the cheapest solutions here or the more affordable solution. Fortinet is much more expensive, and Unify is even more expensive. If you look at the package as a whole, you're much better off with Aruba. As a business, you always need discounts and cheaper products. If it got even lower, they would get more market share.

We pay about $300 per access point. Fortinet is about $500. It's a one-time fee. 

I'm a customer and end-user. 

I do have a firewall. However, I manage all the Aruba devices through the cloud, the Instant On Portal, and the Instant On app.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten based on the slower restart time. 

Most people, when they're connected to it, they're satisfied. I have more than 40 or 50 clients connected to each access point, and they're usually satisfied with the service. The coverage could be a bit improved, and we need more control over the radios. It's done automatically via the AP, and sometimes you might want to control that yourself - yet there's no option to do that, or, at least, I have not figured that out yet.

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.

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.

It's just the perks that we get with everything in terms of the equipment, such as client tracking and GPS coverage. There's a whole lot of perks to Aruba.

We have seen one hundred percent improvement in terms of network management. Network management is so easy.

Aruba Instant AI, for one. It's like skipping your level-one technicians and going straight to two or three. It tells you what's wrong and helps you fix it. That's just one of the benefits. 

It's all embedded in the controller itself.

The security features cover everything and more. It definitely meets our requirements.

For some people, price is a concern.

I use both Aruba Instant and Instant On, I have been using it for a year. 

It's stable. Only planned downtimes, months ahead, and it's timed so it doesn't even affect people. They don't even know.

Whenever you need it, they pick up the phone. They help you then and there. If there's a project that you're stuck with, they literally walk you through everything. I've never had better service.

Positive

Once you have a fundamental understanding of WLAN, it's easy. It's just the control and everything. Depending on the type of person you are, it's just learning it.

It all depends on the person. It took me a week; it took others two months. At the end of the day, it just depends on how much you're willing to sacrifice and learn.

So it depends on the case.

Besides syntax, which is a global thing across all brands. But there's no need to even use it because it gives you everything you need already, which fixes nine out of ten problems.

It's a tool that does what it needs to do, and it benefits the company. It keeps costs down because you don't need to worry about having level-one support; you can skip straight to level two and level three. I think that's a real cost factor for companies.

At the end of the day, that is obviously a big thing in the industry where, for some people, price is a concern. That's where you have Aruba Instant On, but there are different factors to consider with certain things. 

So, it is a little bit more on the pricey side. But in terms of what you're getting, I personally would rather pay that little bit more and get what I need because I know what I'm getting, as opposed to going for something cheaper that's not as manageable and doesn't give as much. So I'm one hundred percent satisfied with this tool.

It's practical. It does what it needs to do. At the end of the day, it's a tool. It serves its purpose. I literally could not ask for better. Compared to Unifi and Ruckus, it's in a whole different world.

I would recommend it to other people because I know the benefits. It depends on what suits their needs, whether it's in the enterprise range or a normal home range. The benefits you're getting from both of them, it does vary slightly, but it is worth it. I would recommend it. I would justify the costs more.

Overall, I would rate it a ten out of ten.

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.