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Aruba Networks Wireless WAN vs Ruckus Wireless WAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

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

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Ruckus Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is 3.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ruckus Wireless WAN is 37.7%, up from 37.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Colly - PeerSpot reviewer
Reasonably priced and offers a good GUI
The product is very scalable. When it comes to some schools, they start with the solution's proof of concept in certain sections. My company aims to improve the throughputs in the schools where the product is installed. If the rest of the School wants the product, it is easy to set up the solution. My company uses Aruba Networks Wireless WAN for schools and warehouses but not in the retail sector. The product offers reliability and uptime twenty-four hours and seven days a week. My company gets notified if the reliability offered by the product goes down. My company also gets notified if we are getting hacked.
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

"Aruba Central seems to be a good way to go in cloud management. However, compared to Cisco Meraki, it's still very early days."
"I rate the stability an eight out of ten."
"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 makes use of "Direct Tunnel" as its best security feature."
"It works well. It is reliable."
"Aruba Wireless's best feature is that it's very, very robust."
"It's stable and reliable."
"The most valuable feature of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is that it is easy to configure. Additionally, with the same configuration with Cisco and Ruckus, we can receive 55 to 60 percent more out of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN."
"The initial setup of Ruckus Wireless WAN is very easy."
"Ruckus Wireless WAN is promoted to all our customers because it is the number one product for the hospitality sector."
"Ruckus Wireless WAN is simple to use. Its coverage is better than other tools."
"The performance is very nice, the throughput is better than any other product, and it's reliable."
"The analytic solution is good and should be improving further."
"The actual wireless access points themselves are very powerful."
"The scalability of Ruckus Wireless WAN benefits your operations since it is pretty good."
"The most valuable solution is its simplicity. The solution is simple and easy to use."
 

Cons

"The customization options could be improved."
"What needs to improve in Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is the support because it takes quite a long time for the support team to resolve issues. Whenever a new version or update is released, my company sees many bugs and issues, so that is another area for improvement as well."
"This solution needs different models that are more specialized for certain customers."
"We have had stability issues with some types of portable devices."
"This product needs more flecibility with switching technologies."
"The product should improve Aruba Central."
"It works. We don't look at it any deeper than that and don't find any features ar missing."
"There’s a bit of complexity in the initial setup."
"Ruckus Unleashed App has areas with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"The interface has to be more automated."
"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."
"It would be nice to some analytical features built into this solution."
"Integration with AirMagnet, the design software, would be good because it takes the layout of a building and positions the access points accordingly, based on the areas and the construction materials."
"What needs improvement in Ruckus Wireless WAN is the initial setup. It could be easier. Availability is also another area for improvement in the product. Another huge disadvantage of Ruckus Wireless WAN is the cost you must continuously pay for the licenses."
"So far, I find Ruckus Wireless WAN okay in terms of the technology and existing business network, but licensing could be more flexible, especially the IoT license that was changed to adapt to the IoT Controller and sensor subscription. The previous licensing method for Ruckus Wireless WAN was better. In my opinion, it wasn't a good decision to change it because the customer prefers the previous licensing over the current licensing. It's not only about the money in terms of licensing, but also about flexibility. The latest license change isn't as flexible. I also found the cloud solution not partner-friendly, so that could also be improved. Another area for improvement in Ruckus Wireless WAN is answering partner requests because currently, it doesn't seem easy for them. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is the AP having its MQTT forwarder. Ruckus Wireless WAN AP supports IoT modules now and to use the IoT modules, you need all IoT data to pass through the IoT Controller. If I could forward that IoT data directly to my environment, similar to what you can do with other solutions, that would be great."
"In comparison to Cambium, I find Cambium to be more robust in terms of performance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a costly solution."
"Aruba Wireless comes with the controller."
"The price of this solution is better than some other vendors."
"The licenses are available as both perpetual or yearly."
"I rate the product's price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is the lowest ,and ten is the highest."
"It is more affordable than Cisco."
"Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is cheaper than Cisco, and the web experience is great."
"I rate the pricing a seven or eight on a scale of one to ten, where ten is the highest and one is the cheapest."
"Compared to big brands, the tool is quite competitively priced."
"Sometimes they sell it for Rs.20,000, and other times, they sell it for Rs.30,000. Then, suddenly, they ask for Rs.70,000. There should be a tiered pricing structure based on the quantity. We understand that if you buy more, the price should be lower, and if you buy less, it may be higher."
"The cost is quite high, and over the past year, there has been a substantial increase, nearly reaching around seventy percent."
"The product has competitive pricing."
"Licensing for Ruckus Wireless WAN when you compare it to other vendors, it's on par and not expensive. For me, all licensing is expensive by default, but you do get lifelong licenses, and what's cool about it is the license for Ruckus Wireless WAN, especially on the LAN controller, is not linked to an access point. It's just a quantity access point deployment, so you can rip out old APs, and put new ones in and they'll work on the wireless LAN because the license is not linked to a specific access point which is much easier to work with."
"The cost of licensing varies."
"The product's pricing is aggressive."
"This solution offers a yearly subscription. The price is not high, other solutions are much higher than Ruckus."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Aruba Network Wireless WAN?
I recommend Aruba Networks Wireless WAN. I have been using Aruba for approximately a decade. It has a great centralized management system, which means we don’t need wireless LAN controllers at ever...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Networks Wireless WAN?
I am not paying anything more apart from the licensing. The only thing I am paying for is the implementation cost.
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 pricing is reasonable for us as partners since we receive discounts. However, I believe for non-partners, it might not be considered cheap, though it isn't the most expensive either.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Pittsburgh Golf Club, Rio Rancho Public Schools, Amwaj Rotana - Jumeirah Beach Residence - Dubai, Trevecca Nazarene University
American University of Sharjah, Dordt College, Drew University, Lamar University, Raroa School
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Networks Wireless WAN vs. Ruckus Wireless WAN and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.