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Ruckus Wireless vs SonicWall SonicWave Access Points comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

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

Ruckus Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall SonicWave Access ...
Ranking in Wireless LAN
19th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Ruckus Wireless is 14.2%, up from 12.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall SonicWave Access Points is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Xander Janse Van Rensburg - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable and high-performance wireless networking with exceptional stability, scalability, and robust feature set
One of the most valuable features I appreciate is auto channelization, facilitated by a proprietary product called ChannelFly. This feature enables APs in a specific zone to automatically adjust their channels, optimizing performance. Additionally, Ruckus Wireless stands out for its ability to reuse certain beams, resulting in smaller data spots. In my experience with various products, Ruckus Wireless consistently delivers unparalleled throughput, coverage, and reliability in wireless networking across different environments. As a noteworthy point, the newly launched WiFi 7 standard is measured against Ruckus's WiFi 7 AP, establishing it as the global benchmark. When it comes to WiFi, Ruckus sets the standard, outperforming competitors with its superior performance and capabilities.
Winsley De Oliveira - PeerSpot reviewer
An industry-leading security and wireless solution packaged in one box
We make our customers SonicWall clients. We have a solution package: If you have a contract to network with us, we will deliver SonicWall firewalls, access points, VPN clients, and all the other equipment with the SonicWall solution. We have been selling this solution for the past 30 years. We had a customer three months ago struggling with a Fortinet solution. We convinced them that the Fortinet solution would not work perfectly during renewal. We made a bet and delivered SonicWall equipment for free for one week, and if they had no more issues, they would buy it. That's precisely what happened. The customer ended up purchasing an $80,000 SonicWall solution. The SonicWall SonicWave Access Points are a good product compared to Cisco, Sophos, and Fortinet. In Brazil, Ruckus is taking market share in some key areas, such as hotels and hospitals. They are into big solutions with thousands of access points. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"One of the most valuable features I appreciate is auto channelization, facilitated by a proprietary product called ChannelFly."
"Our IT staff can quickly issue guest passes for vendors and the instructions are very straightforward, requiring very little effort to get connected."
"The scalability has been very good."
"Stability has been very good. It is reliable."
"The most valuable feature is the performance. It works great."
"Zero-handoff is one of the top features. The client balancing between the access points is good. Its security is also fine."
"Offers excellent WiFi connectivity and a valuable SmartRoam feature"
"For me, the most valuable features are good integration with the customer's existing network and the ease of deployment and configuration. Ruckus products are also easy to learn to manage and deploy for not only our own staff, but also for the IT workers in the customer's organization."
"Unlike the Cisco solution that needs a dedicated wireless controller outside of a firewall, SonicWall has everything in one box. Fortinet is close to it."
"The platform's most valuable feature is the ability to provide cloud access to configure and manage devices."
"A good management tool that can be managed through the cloud or firewall."
"I rate SonicWall a nine out of ten."
"The security features of SonicWall are highly valued."
 

Cons

"The solution could include more security features."
"The pricing needs to be more competitive. They need to re-examine their business model and see if there is a way to provide their service at a cheaper cost."
"The price is one area for improvement."
"Ruckus products, overall, have a wide range of useful features, however not all customers have the budget to buy a corporate Wi-Fi solution. Most of the time, it's far too expensive for our clients to consider going with Ruckus, and they might like to see cheaper solutions in the Ruckus range."
"Their support has been lacking a little bit and needs to be improved. I have had a ticket open for a month, and it is really hard to get a resolution out of them. They haven't really come out with anything that is much of an improvement in a long time. It has mostly just been fixes and things like that. We used to have a ZoneDirector or a physical controller for the wireless network, and that was kind of end of life. It was very old, and at the time, we were expanding the wireless network, and we didn't want to rely on one piece of hardware that was pretty old. So, we went to SmartZone Cluster, which has two VMs in a cluster. Unfortunately, we lost the feature ability for guest networks and other things that we were using before, and Ruckus just kind of told us that they weren't supporting that feature in the newer product, which is not really great. I was told initially that SmartZone was an upgrade to ZoneDirector. It is the logical thing to think that it is going to have all the same features, but it didn't. The issue that we have right now is onboarding BYOD devices. It is not really great for us, and we're looking for a new product to make that easier. We did have Cloudpath, which was a product that Ruckus purchased from another company that was an onboarding solution, but it just didn't really work very well for us. So, we discontinued using it, and it actually created more confusion for people. They should make BYOD or guest network portals a lot easier and better. In some areas, we have been having issues because there are just so many WAPs that are so close that we had to manually turn down the radio of power because the automatic feature of the AP wasn't really doing it right. It should also have a little bit better RF analysis capability to be able to see on the controller side. The front end for our staff, students, and guests has also not been quite as good as we had hoped."
"In my company, we still has to do some manual calculations on where we should set the access points, which is a time-consuming process as there were no automatic setup functions provided by the tool."
"o make it a ten I would like the ability to replace it if we do have a faulty device. Getting one faster might be helpful. I would like to have autoconfiguration where instead of having to configure a new network, we would be able to push all configuration out a little easier with the interface."
"The cloud solution is not mature enough."
"We have a lot of overlapping wireless networks with a lot of cheap equipment that does not run on any rules or regulations. The best way to improve the wireless network, like in SonicWaves, is to defeat these networks by isolating, preventing them, or overcoming their wireless signal. We try to do that, but I live near an airport, and the AirPortRadar glitches my wireless network every nine seconds."
"The main issue is the management of the access points. They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration."
"They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration."
"The product's pricing is high and could be improved."
"Integrating with the firewall and management console was a little complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a yearly license for our multiple mode 200 or 300 Ruckus Wireless systems. It's a good price."
"Ruckus Wireless is not an expensive solution."
"Ruckus Wireless is an expensive solution."
"It depends on the client. You have an initial license cost that you need to buy to bind the access point with the controller. This is a one-time fee. You also have to pay the support fee that, if I remember correctly, is about $25 per access point. Its pricing and licensing can be improved."
"Ruckus Wireless is a cheaper solution than Cisco."
"Ruckus Wireless is available at a reasonable price"
"The price of Ruckus Wireless could be better. I have heard it is more expensive than other solutions."
"​Pricing is very competitive for an enterprise solution. Regarding licensing, always carry the support contract on the controller (not needed on APs)​."
"The platform offers yearly licenses."
"The pricing of the SonicWave Access Points solution is different in the US and Brazil. In the US, the solution is priced more competitively than other vendors. In Brazil, the exchange rate is a problem. To address this, SonicWall managers in Brazil are running several sales promotions and improving the price of new units."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?
At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What did we like about Ruckus? First, it was very easy to use, and anybody with minimal...
Which is better - Ruckus Wireless or Cisco Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and ma...
How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...
What do you like most about SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?
The platform's most valuable feature is the ability to provide cloud access to configure and manage devices.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?
The platform offers yearly licenses. We receive all the support services through our partners. Thus, there are no extra costs involved. However, some partners might charge for deployment services.
What needs improvement with SonicWall SonicWave Access Points?
The main issue is the management of the access points. They are sometimes difficult to manage from the end-user side because they are not yet familiar with the configuration.
 

Also Known As

No data available
SonicWave 200 Series, SonicWave 200 Series Access Points, SonicWave 400 Series, SonicWave 400 Series Access Points
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American University of Sharjah, Baruch College, Centro Escolar Liceo Santo Tomšs, Chevalier College, Chico Unified School District, Colegio de Fomento El Prado, Columbia Public Schools, Delta School District, Dordt College, Douglas County School District, Drew University, Armonea, Central Utah Clinic, Grove Hill Medical Center, Inner South Community Health Service, Midwest Surgical, Satilla Regional Medical Center, Lyndoch Living, Polonus, Roaring Fork School District, Sonora State, Vivid, Sydney, Players Club, Sandals, Scandic Hotels, Sheraton LAX, Sunbird
St. Dominic's School for Girls
Find out what your peers are saying about Ruckus Wireless vs. SonicWall SonicWave Access Points and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
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