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Cisco 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Wireless WAN is reliable and cost-effective, offering strong ROI despite high costs, with significant productivity and efficiency gains.
Sentiment score
6.6
Ruckus Wireless WAN delivers strong ROI with extended lifespan and cost savings, especially valued in educational settings.
Cisco's licensing structure is more expensive than FortiNet, as it requires different tiers of licenses to access advanced features.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Cisco Wireless WAN support is praised for expertise and RMA services, though response times and engineer consistency vary.
Sentiment score
6.5
Ruckus Wireless WAN support is generally positive, but users desire more experienced staff and improved communication and contact options.
If an engineer's shift ends, I have to re-explain everything to a new engineer, which is challenging.
When we seek support, the service we expect is not promptly delivered, which can be time-consuming.
They would thoroughly troubleshoot issues.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco Wireless WAN is scalable and adaptable, efficiently managing users across various sectors despite some licensing challenges.
Sentiment score
7.7
Ruckus Wireless WAN is scalable and adaptable, with cloud options improving scalability despite hardware and licensing limitations.
There isn't a limit to scalability, but for deployments exceeding five thousand equipment, it requires opening a case with Meraki support to increase capacity.
I find the scalability quite good, with a rating of eight out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco Wireless WAN is stable and reliable, with minor configuration issues and responsive support, rated 8-10 by users.
Sentiment score
8.2
Ruckus Wireless WAN is stable and reliable, performing well in high-density areas with mostly positive user feedback.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Wireless WAN needs enhanced compatibility, affordability, user-friendliness, and improved security, support, and management features.
Improvements needed in support, documentation, UI, integration, licensing, delivery, analytics, and global coverage for competitive alignment.
Walmart is interested in using electronic tags instead of paper labels for easier price changes on products.
There seems to be no visible improvement in the Gartner positioning, which is crucial even as companies like Huawei are also entering the wireless sector.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Wireless WAN is seen as costly due to licensing, with some seeking cheaper alternatives like Aruba and Ruckus.
Ruckus Wireless offers competitive pricing with flexible licensing, seen as a worthwhile investment for performance and coverage benefits.
The cost is one of the higher in the industry.
The price is always on the higher side, which impacts the perception of return on investment.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Wireless WAN provides high-speed connectivity, strong security, scalability, and reliability with easy management and comprehensive integration features.
Ruckus Wireless WAN offers powerful performance, superior coverage, easy deployment, high user support, seamless roaming, and excellent IoT integration.
The main value of using Cisco Wireless WAN with Meraki is that the technology is cloud-based, making it more accessible for the customer to troubleshoot and implement changes remotely.
The most valuable features are the advanced technologies like BeamFlex, which make a significant difference.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Ruckus Wireless WAN
Ranking in Wireless WAN
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Wireless WAN category, the mindshare of Cisco Wireless WAN is 3.8%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ruckus Wireless WAN is 35.0%, down from 37.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless WAN
 

Featured Reviews

LalanChowdhury - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhances network reliability, offers device longevity and offers open authentication
The device longevity is a factor. enhances network reliability. Specifically, the handoff feature for WAN, when a customer moves from one access point to another in a building or office, is much easier and more reliable if it's controller-based. So, in those cases, we recommend the traditional controller-based solution. Cisco is adding AI features; they've already started in SD-WAN. But in Bangladesh, people are still new to AI. Cisco is including AI capabilities in their devices, so people are gradually adopting them. If they need AI-driven devices for industrial purposes, they can use them. So, Cisco is forward-thinking with these features. Even though they're not being used extensively now, they may be used in the future for things like RFID or automation. That's why Cisco's solution is logical and adaptable.
Said Souhaiel - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy for us to apply and change parameters or consult the quality
I recommend using Ruckus. First of all, the cost and the price are okay compared to Cisco or Huawei. Secondly, the use is easy, and we have a significant result in terms of quality and signal level. We use it as an access point to provide Internet coverage for the public We have a few on-site…
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless WAN solutions are best for your needs.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
17%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Wireless WAN?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Wireless WAN?
Initially, Cisco comes up with high prices, but when competition starts with Huawei or HP Aruba, they provide good prices. Initially, they try to come up with large prices and huge numbers.
What needs improvement with Cisco Wireless WAN?
Cisco Wireless WAN has room for improvement in WiFi coverage. Sometimes, their coverage is normally good, but at the same area where the access points are deployed, people face continuous disconnec...
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?
These are not cheap access points. If you want to go cheap, Ubiquiti is an option. I knew they were worth it because once deployed, they wouldn't require additional attention. They're not at Cisco ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Brunel University London, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Chartwell School, Children's Hospital Colorado, Cisco Live Milan, City of Biel, City of Mississauga, Dundee Precious Metals, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Erickson Living, Goldcorp, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS)
American University of Sharjah, Dordt College, Drew University, Lamar University, Raroa School
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless WAN vs. Ruckus Wireless WAN and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.