Aruba Wireless Reviews

We use wireless for all testing (on Apple, Chrome, and even tablets). We moved our school over to having a managed wireless network. This was my first time doing something like this and my colleague nor myself had any issues with the software or hardware. 

We have a large investment in Aruba Networks WiFi technology. We have recently deployed a mix of Aruba 225 and Aruba 335 units to provide complete and full coverage over multiple floors. We like the automatic hand-off of a connection to the access point with the strongest connection. We have had no issues deploying the access points, and look forward to years of service from these products, which is a strength that we are seeing. 

It has great equipment for wireless AP needs. We purchased 1000 units for each floor of our schools. They have a ton of useful business-related features and security features, but the biggest selling point was the ability to create two different SSIDs to control public versus private wireless networks. 

AirWave (monitoring tool)

If there is a network issue, there are so many ways to access the monitoring application. Also there are maps and labels to tell you exactly where an issue may be. The TAC Service is very responsive and persistent.

There is so much licensing, you literally pay for every solution, add-on, or cool feature. Compared to others, we were in the middle with pricing, but as you start to invest more into features it will get very pricey.

Stability and its ability to handle more devices has been an improvement for our organization.

Installation is relatively easy.

Configuration was not all that complicated, but there were some forums online that helped us just in case. They shed light on the deep config options.

We only had a summer to deploy.

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.

Our team handles the Aruba controller. We have four senior and two junior engineers.

AirWave is a valuable feature.

We're using the Aruba Sensor, but sometimes the sensor isn't talking to AirWave or the AP. If something happens, we need to receive an email directly from the sensor, but the controller doesn't know. If there's something like the high channel utilization from the sensor we send to the controller, the controller can change the channel because they're all in the same environment.

Also, the controller can not do active/standby mode. It only works in active/active. I haven't seen any option for active/standby because we want to put one in the backup center. However, with the active/active mode, the traffic must go to the primary and the backup center.

I would like it if Aruba had a mobile app so I wouldn't need to log in on my laptop. They should also simplify the solution, so there aren't so many layers. It would be nice if the solution double-checked your configurations. For example, it could warn you if a configuration change in one layer conflicts with your current settings. 

I have been using Aruba Wireless since 2018.

Aruba is stable. 

Aruba is pretty scalable. 

I've called Aruba support directly for several tickets. It is quite good most of the time.

I work with Cisco and Aruba. We are more familiar with Cisco because we've been using it for more than 15 years. It is stable and available in active/standby. We can put one in the backup dial center and one in the primary dial center.

Cisco's controller is also stable, and they're using DNA to monitor. It sends us an alert if something happens and tells us what caused the problem. It can identify the root cause and solution. 

Deploying Aruba is somewhat complex. There are many layers. It's easy to make mistakes because the same setting will appear in different layers. Various parts of large buildings can have different settings.

We don't like the subscription model. We need to adjust our budget every time we renew the license.

I rate Aruba Wireless eight out of 10. I would recommend it to a small or medium-sized company. It depends on your budget because Aruba is slightly cheaper than Cisco. 

The primary use case of this solution is to manage all of our wireless devices.

I like the way it groups and manages access points.

You have to use the command line for a lot of commands but then get back to the GUI for the main actions. A lot of the access point commands are in the command line interface, versus being in the GUI.

Some control systems have the ability to right-click to go to the common line. I would like to see that incorporated onto the interface.

I have been working with Aruba Wireless for three years.

I have almost 1,300 access points and on an average day, I have less than 1% down. I am usually sitting at 100%. This solution is stable.

This solution is very scalable.

The technical support is very good and I haven't had any issues with them. They were pretty responsive.

They had their wireless in place for eight years and I have been here for three. I wasn't a part of the initial decision-making process.

The initial setup was straightforward.

It only takes a few minutes to deploy. I would say that it is about as long as it takes to reboot the access point.

The pricing is reasonable. If you compare it to other solutions then it's reasonably priced.

I think that Aruba Wireless is a great option. I hardly ever have problems with access points and the failover mechanism works well. 

Overall, It's a good solid system.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We are using Aruba Instant in four remote branch offices. We chose this solution at the time because of its controllerless feature and easy setup.

It provided an easy WiFi solution for our branch offices to deploy. We could usually have them up and running from out-of-the-box in about 10 minutes.

The controllerless feature. It will randomly pick one of the APs to be the designated master. If that access point fails, the role is moved to another AP. This saves a lot on management and infrastructure costs.

There is plenty of room for improvement. Reliability of a flawless upgrade after the 4.x releases is rare. There is a lot of manual intervention required lately due to random bugs. If you have a mix of APs using different firmware, it takes nothing short but an act of god to upgrade successfully. 

The product’s performance got worse with newer releases as well. It seems like they are adding more frivolous features and sacrificing stability and speed. The latest design of their APs removes the console port and requires purchasing an expensive proprietary cable just to access the console.

Occasionally, it needed to be rebooted. I used to have issues with DHCP. It is extremely buggy and difficult to upgrade with different firmware versions/models.

I do not know what the maximum number of APs in a cluster can be (for the Instant series), but I never seemed to hit a limit. At one site, we had 12 clustered together.

It seemed to be good when we needed it. This was before HPE purchased them. I have not had a need to contact support since then.

The other way around, we have switched away from Aruba to Ruckus. Aruba’s poor performance and random upgrade issues caused too much time consuming maintenance and troubleshooting. Ruckus Unleashed has been flawless; performance almost doubled, and it is far easier to configure.

The initial setup was very simple. There were some settings which were confusing and unlabeled when trying to use the online help with the newer firmware.

Trial different solutions and compare pricing to how well they perform, their stability, how easy it is to maintain, etc.

At the time when we first started using them, we did not evaluate other options. They seemed to be only ones back then who could cluster APs without requiring a separate controller.

Perform a site survey and get a model that supports the latest AC technology.

At first, the product was a solid 10. As time went on, and newer firmware was released, the product has dropped significantly to maybe a four or five rating out of 10 due to various bugs and design issues. We no longer use Aruba for any new sites and are slowly phasing them out from our locations with a different controllerless product that has drastically increased reliability and performance.

We currently have 500 access points deployed and operated by two controllers. Recently, all of the AP-125 models were replaced as part of a three year site wide upgrade, using AP-205H, AP-215, AP-225, and AP-325 models. 

Our wireless overhaul has reduced the number of wireless related help desk tickets by nearly 90%.

I work in a concrete fortress built 70 years ago. It obviously was not designed with wireless internet in mind. The software available allows me to make very specific changes to individual access points when throttling power/settings, which are critical to good working wireless signals. 

The ARM functionality does not always seem to perform how I would like. In some cases, I have had to manually assign channels to avoid channel confusion. Overall, it is a small task to worry about. 

HPE Aruba technical support is a nine out of 10. 

Quality of the product and the OS interface are a nine out 10.

Clients use Aruba Wireless for their wireless network needs.

We have many customers using the solution, both on-premises and cloud.

The support for both on-premises and cloud deployments has proven to be very effective.

We are not facing any difficulty in convincing customers to have Aruba Wireless, and there are no specific features that customers are particularly looking for in wireless.

I have been using the solution for over ten years.

The solution is very stable. Many customers do not face any complaints about the product or the network going down.

I rate it ten out of ten on scalability.

Technical support is good.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward.

I do not know how to calculate our ROI.

Pricing is competitive compared to other companies like Cisco.

I would definitely recommend Aruba Wireless.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

I've been a consultant for six years.

Aruba is easier than Juniper.

The stability and management could be improved.

I have been working with Aruba Wireless for five years.

We are currently working with Aruba Wireless but will be changing to Juniper later this year.

When it comes to stability, Cisco is number one. Aruba and Juniper are similar.

Aruba Wireless is a scalable solution.

Technical support is good.

I have been working with Juniper WLC Series for one year. We plan to implement Juniper next month.

The initial setup is very easy.

The pricing is fine.

Cisco is more expensive than Aruba or Juniper.

Aruba has pricing for a Virtual license with a VLAN package.

We decided to change to Juniper because it looked right, and because of the easy management.

I would rate Aruba Wireless a nine out of ten.

Aruba was our primary wireless solution until very recently.  

In the end, when you bring on a wireless solution, you only need a wireless solution. That is the intrinsic value. We had both Aruba ClearPass and Aruba AirWaves. We had all the management features also available from Aruba. These worked well together as a class of products.   

When I compare Aruba with Juniper Mist, Juniper is the more an AI-driven management solution. It is more of a modern solution, I think. Aruba needs to be more competitive with Juniper.  

We have been using Aruba Wireless for four or five years now.  

I think Aruba is stable because it was working okay. There was no problem with downtime. The issue for us with functionality was because we have much more reflection in our building due to the height of our ceilings.  

We bought the product through a reseller. For support, we needed to go through that reseller instead of Aruba self. It is hard to judge the capabilities of Aruba support directly.  

We had Aruba and we just replaced it with Juniper Mist a few weeks ago (September 2020). The AI-driven management solutions from Juniper Mist suits our business more than the Aruba solution we used before. I think Aruba did the work we needed before, but better management is the reason why we moved over to Juniper Mist.  

Before Aruba, we worked with HP Colubris. We stopped using the HP Colubris solution because HP no longer provided it. That is what happened.  

Aruba is comparable to competing solutions when it comes to price. I am going to say that the support pricing for Juniper Mist is higher than Aruba. I think that is because Juniper is more of a cloud model than Aruba.  

You do also have a cloud solution from Aruba called Aruba Central, but I have not compared prices for that.  

The advice that I would give to someone considering Aruba as a wireless solution would be to look into the Aruba Central cloud solution that they are offering right now. I think we are at a time of brand control that needs to be managed and needs to be supported. I think that working with a cloud-based solution is a better option than on-premises solutions.  

I think what is more important than a particular tool is that you also have the depth of wireless knowledge to really be able to competently manage such environments.  

On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate this product as a seven-out-of-ten. To improve on that score they would have to make Aruba more available to cloud management. They just recently started with Aruba Central and they are not as far along as Juniper Mist is with having a mature cloud solution.  

The problem for Aruba is that Juniper Mist is a new product without a longer legacy. They can start from ground zero. Aruba needs to support the older controller-based models and that may slow them down when it comes to development.