Aruba Networks Wireless WAN Reviews

We have used Aruba Networks Wireless WAN a lot for retail, manufacturing, and deployments on educational campuses. Most of the deployments I've done are enterprise-grade across multiple sites, utilizing the ClearPass solution so that all the enterprise sites are managed at one location. The use cases can vary.

The most valuable feature of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is centralized management capability. You don't have to have wireless LAN controllers at every location.

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN could improve the solution availability. The selection of mounting hardware for the various radios is limited and poor. Often, you have to create and manufacture your own mounting hardware in certain situations. 

The specific information available for external dB gain antennas is virtually non-existent or poor. You have to do a lot of research to find out what external antennas are going to suit your environment. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN doesn't do a good job of helping, and that's one of their downfalls.

If you're using external antennas, you want to accomplish some gain by using external antennas. There's not a lot of information specific to Aruba Networks Wireless WAN, even on the Aruba platform, that provides you with solid information and recommendations about antennas that would best suit their solution.

I have been using Aruba Networks Wireless WAN for approximately 10 years.

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN stability is good. It has a low failure rate. I don't typically do service, but the failure rates are less than or equal to their largest competitors. It's a pretty stable environment.

I have found Aruba Networks Wireless WAN to be scalable. If you use either the ClearPass or the AirWave, it's very easy to scale.

I typically don't use technical support of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN. There's been a few instances where I've had to make a call, and they were fairly responsive.

The initial installation of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is easy. The enterprise-level deployments are straightforward. 

The maintenance of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN depends on the size of the enterprise solution that you have deployed. However, typically, it's relatively easy, because if you use ClearPass or AirWave, you can have one person monitor an entire enterprise. It's not difficult.

Different sectors have their own set of ROI indicators that they follow. For example, retail has a set of ROIs and manufacturing and another different set than retail. You can make your own algorithms to determine our ROI, I typically don't focus on that.

The price of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN depends on how you buy it. From a pricing perspective, if you choose to buy Aruba Networks Wireless WAN as an MRC, it's dependent upon the radio and the solution that you choose what your MRC is. If you choose to buy it outright, they're competitive with their competitors, and they're probably four percent or five percent lower than their largest competitor.

I rate Aruba Networks Wireless WAN an eight out of ten.

We primarily use the solution as an instant access point with a built in virtual controller. It's a wireless product.

No other wireless product has the same capabilities. With Aruba, users just need access points and do not need a controller. Access points can act as controllers. With 50 to 60 access points, we can use another Aruba product to help with management below 50 or 60 access points. If we have thousands of access points, at that point, we would need to go for a controller. 

The solution can scale.

It is stable.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward.

Depending on the level of support you have (paid or standard), they are responsive. 

We'd like to have a bit more artificial intelligence incorporated into existing products. It would give them more market gain and make their product more robust. 

I've been using the solution for five to six years. 

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

If you have a small setup, it's quite easy to manage. You don't need to have the big hardware in place. If you have a very large infrastructure setup you might need to have a traditional WiFi setup.

It is quite scalable. How easy it is to expand depends on what scaling you are doing. For example, if you are adding more hardware or more access points. A small setup is quite easy to manage as you don't have so much hardware. However, a bigger setup might require additional WiFi expansion.

You can scale it to a great extent. 

We're a small company. We have less than 50 users. That said, we also have clients that use the solution. 

We do not have plans to increase usage. 

We've used technical support. They are pretty good. However, it depends on if you have a standard or paid support. Paid support allows you to call directly. Standard support is slower, and you need to communicate via email. 

We also use Cisco. I'm familiar with Juniper as well. 

The initial setup isn't too difficult. You just need to have a bit of background knowledge. It's pretty straightforward. 

The deployment depends on if you will use Aruba Central, a centralized could management platform, which makes the deployment easier. If you don't use that, you do need to do everything from scratch. The length of time it takes to deploy depends on the size of the setup. The physical mounting is always something that takes time. For the configuration, if you have configuration planning already in place, it won't take too long. It might take a week to a month for a smaller setup of 50 access points. 

If you have all the test points mounted up and they have all been cabled towards POE switches, and they have the necessary firmware and everything in place, and you have also planning in place including what are the access IDs and what security measures will be taking place, then it will be quite fast to do it.

You only need one or two people to handle the initial setup.

I've not witnessed any ROI.

They have various types of licensing to choose from. They have licenses for security and firewalls, et cetera. There are different licenses for products and different types of features as well. 

Most licenses are subscription-based. There are a few perpetual licenses as well. 

I was looking at Juniper Mist and noted that this product has more AI. Aruba is not too evolved when it comes to AI. 

We're not necessarily on the latest version of the solution. We are due for an upgrade.

If someone has a smaller setup, Juniper may be a good option. However, with bigger setups and more unique features, Aruba is a good choice. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

The primary use case of the solution is to provide wireless access while protecting our data transfers.

The solution can be deployed on-premise and in the cloud.

Aruba makes use of "Direct Tunnel" as its best security feature. The feature creates a direct tunnel from the endpoint to the controller, ensuring that all data is encrypted. This prevents the possibility of a man-in-the-middle attack compromising the AP since the data from the endpoint to the Aruba Access Controller is encrypted.

The Aruba Network solution offers centralized management, integrated compatibility with other equipment, and enhanced security features.

Aruba's technical support has room for improvement. Currently, their response time is slow.

I have been using the solution for seven years.

The stability is quite good. The stability relies on complete network deployment. If the network deployment is not good, and all the features are not used correctly, any solution can provide instability if not implemented correctly.

The scalability is very good. I give the scalability a nine out of ten.

The technical support is slow at responding.

The initial setup is straightforward and simple. The deployment takes up to one week, or only one or two days for a testing environment on the POC.

From a deployment standpoint, my CTO and I have created a comprehensive plan for installing the APs at various locations in the customer's environment. I will go on-site and provide guidance to the customer's technical team to ensure a successful deployment.

The implementations are completed at the customer sites with our assistance.

The licenses are available as both perpetual or yearly. 
The prices of Aruba are fairly reasonable, and they can be adjusted to meet the specific needs of the customer. Everything required for a deployment is included with the license.

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

We currently have three clients using the solution and have proposed it to multiple clients.

I highly recommend Aruba Networks Wireless WAN due to its exceptional security features, which are essential for any wireless network.

I use the solution for cloud operations.

It's just a normal tool. I would really say nothing is valuable to me about its features. It's not special.

It had been working in the past few years, but after aging, it has dropped down.

The solution has bugs. It really has bugs, and you have to wait until it happens, then you realize it. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement.

I have been using Aruba Networks Wireless WAN for five years. I am a customer of the solution.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a five, six, or seven out of ten. It's not bad.

I rate the support an eight out of ten since it is good.

Positive

Regarding the initial setup, if one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate its setup a three to five. You have to be a big technical person to deploy the solution.

I rate the solution a six or seven out of ten.

I like the solution's ability to add multiple SSIDs on different levels such as enterprise and guest networks. 

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is expensive. 

I have been working with the product for five years. 

I would rate Aruba Networks Wireless WAN's stability a ten out of ten. 

I would rate the tool's scalability a ten out of ten. We have 542 clients using the products. 

The product's lifetime warranty is second to none. They will replace a system that has gone down with an identical unit. 

The tool's setup was easy. 

You will need to pay an annual subscription cost. 

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. Try to negotiate the best price that you can get. 

We primarily use the solution to control viruses. It's for security to protect access points.

The pricing is decent. The warranty is very good. 

It is easy to use.

The security features are good. It offers nice protection. 

It's stable and reliable.

The solution is scalable.

I don't have anything to complain about. 

We'd like to have more security.

If they provided more updates that would be ideal. 

I've been using the solution for two to three years. 

I'd rate the stability nine out of ten. It's pretty stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It's reliable enough for now. 

The solution can scale well. I'd rate the scalability eight or nine out of ten. It's easy to extend it.

We have two technical individuals that have Aruba certification that use it.

We do have plans to increase usage - if we increase users. 

I haven't really used technical support. We tend to be able to troubleshoot ourselves. So far, we haven't had any issues. 

I'm also familiar with Cisco, however, their warranties are not as good. We used to use Cisco Meraki. Aruba is less expensive. 

It is straightforward to set up. It doesn't take long to deploy. Usually, it takes one to two weeks. However, it depends on the company. How many people you need to deploy the solution depends on the size of the project.

We had an internal team that was able to deploy it. 

The pricing is good, and they offer very good warranties on the product. They offer permanent warranties - not just one or three-year warranties.

A key advantage for Aruba is that we pay for it outright and do not have recurring licensing costs. 

I'd recommend the solution to others. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. 

We're basically using the solution to replace our StarVPN connectivity. Prior to this, we had a bunch of VPNs that were creating our WAN that would link back to our central office. It simplified our network. That's what we used it for. We installed one in every office to create the WAN between offices. In the potential next phase, we were looking to then possibly decrease our internet connectivity to each site, however, we didn't do that quite yet.

The two most valuable features for us were the fact that we were able to simplify and recreate our WAN with a similar security presence and also the ability to run a single WiFi SSID across the entire company with authentication.

It worked as delivered, and therefore, there's nothing to really add. If you were asking me what they could do better, unfortunately, I quite honestly can't think of anything right now. It doesn't mean that if I was in the middle of using it, there isn't something that would be annoying to me. However, right now, it’s absolutely fine.

The integration, pricing, and configuration could always be improved upon.

I’ve used the solution for two years.

It's quite stable. It didn't come down yet. We didn't have any issues for the past year or so. We did execute a couple of updates. Those were clean and it worked just fine. It’s reliable. The performance is good.

It worked for the scale that we asked it to. That said, we installed it and we didn't grow it. The whole company, about 175 people, use the product.

The technical support was great. We’ve been satisfied with their service.

I’ve also dealt with Cisco and found Aruba more affordable with better support.

It was straightforward to set up. It worked as advertised. I didn't do the actual deployment myself. However, my deployment team was able to roll it out earlier than projected. Prior to making the selection, I had estimated more time than it took for us to deploy. In that sense, it was fantastic. The deployment was very quick.

We've got five people supporting all of our networking and hardware requirements. We don't have any one person dedicated to it.

I’m not sure of the exact pricing of the product.

This solution is more than worth considering. I've used Aruba in different organizations. It historically has, to me, been an easier install than Cisco wireless solutions have been. It consistently gives similar services at a lower price point. I have found that their pre-sales teams and support have been better than similarly situated Cisco WiFi and WAN products.

I’d rate the solution an eight out of ten.