Ruckus Wireless Reviews

I use the solution in my company's warehouse and office. The product is useful as a wireless tool to deal with the pickup trucks in the warehouse and also for the end users who are seated in the office premises.

The solution's most valuable features are that it is easy to set up and works flawlessly without a problem, as expected.

The product is stable, which is why my company does not want any extra features, as it already provides everything that we want.

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. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in the product.

I have been using Ruckus Wireless for three or four years. I am an end-user of the tool.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Around 30 to 40 people in my company use the product.

My company has previous experience with Cisco. My company switched to Ruckus Wireless because it was price-friendly and easier to use compared to Cisco.

I rate the product's initial setup phase a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one means it was difficult and ten means it was easy.

The solution is deployed on a private cloud since the controller is in the cloud and our access control is on an on-premises model. The tool's management is cloud-based.

The solution can be deployed in a couple of days. The problem was to set up the access points in our company's warehouse as it took most of our company's time. Once the access points were up and running, the overall product would become functional in an hour or two.

The product is critical for our business since, without it, we cannot work.

I rate the product price as six to seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price.

Ruckus Wireless' BeamFlex technology has been very good, and my company has not faced any issues with connectivity as it works fine currently.

I recommend the product to others who plan to use it, considering that it is a tool that is easy to use and easy to set up. I think the tool's price is okay compared to other vendors.

I rate the tool a ten out of ten.

Ruckus Wireless is used in high-density environments, such as theaters, meeting rooms, and city centers where there is a lot of interference from other wireless networks.

One of the biggest features of Ruckus Wireless is its BeamFlex+ technology.

It's a potential technology only available through Ruckus wireless access points. This technology permits to follow each user during its Wi-Fi experience, which is awesome.

The pricing is the biggest issue with Ruckus wireless. It's so expensive, but Ruckus are just the best. 

So, from my point of view, portal features are something missing in Ruckus Wireless. I want to see Ruckus Wireless integrate a Wi-Fi portal into its product. This would allow for easier user authentication for vendors.

We are a vendor or reseller of Ruckus Wireless, and we deploy it across different customers.

I have been working with Ruckus Wireless for 15 years. I deal with the latest version of Ruckus Wireless.

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. 

We have more than 100 customers currently using Ruckus Wireless in our business area. So, I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. 

It is a very scalable product. 

The customer service and support ask too much. The product on it says it's already really expensive. And if you want premium support, then it's, again, more money, and then it becomes really too hard.

Neutral

I worked with Ubiquiti and Aruba. We have replaced Ubiquiti with TP-Link. So if we need a cheap solution, then we'll go rather to TP-Link than to Ubiquiti.

There are no difficulties with installing Ruckus Wireless. However, you have to be certified to install Ruckus wireless equipment. 

So, today, there's a key version of Ruckus wireless, which is called the unleashed version, where you have no controller, but you miss lots of features when you do that, so we never use it.

Ruckus Wireless is both an on-premises and cloud-based solution. The antennas are always on-premises, but the management can be done in the cloud.

The time it takes to deploy Ruckus Wireless depends on the complexity of the infrastructure. For a small deployment, it can take about 30 minutes per device.

But it surely depends on the complexities and experience of the person. When you use the cloud controller, it's really a job for an expert, not for the novices.

I'm a technician with extensive experience in Ruckus Wireless. Our implementation strategy for Ruckus Wireless is the same as for any other product. 

There is an ROI because it's really set up and forget. It just does its job. It saves a lot of time. It is a reliable solution. 

There are extra expenses in addition to standard licensing.

I would recommend using this solution for professional use. And if it's just like amateurs, people who don't have experience with it, so they might face some difficulties.

That's a question of connection density. So if you want to deliver Wi-Fi to more than a hundred people in a small room, then you do it with Ruckus, or you don't.

Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten. 

The tool is expensive.

I have been using Ruckus Wireless for three years.

The solution is stable but have some issues. I rate it five out of ten on stability.

100-150 users are using this solution.
I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.

Support sometimes provides delayed response.

Neutral

I have used Cisco and Aruba. We switched to Ruckus because it is cheaper than Cisco.

The initial setup is not easy and takes few days to complete. Professional teams find it difficult. I rate it two out of ten.

We use some integrators for the infrastructure enhancement.

The tool is very appropriate for high-density environments. We use it for outdoor areas and factories. It’s been useful for our dense environments.

Different WiFi routers are cheaper and cover areas quite well. They work in different environments. They have cellular connectivity.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I have been using Ruckus Wireless along with WiFi devices and controllers. Our company mainly uses the solution to implement WiFi connectivity in customer environments, which are mostly hospitality sector establishments like premium hotels and other universities.

In our organization, we have witnessed a greater interest in Ruckus products from medium and large enterprises, especially for Ruckus network devices like switches and ports. Some of our organization's customers preferred to adopt cloud solutions from Ruckus because they were not willing to make large investments in a Dual LAN Controller.  

Ruckus Wireless offers excellent WiFi connectivity and a valuable SmartRoam feature. For example, when you roam around a location from one access point to another while connected to a WiFi device, the network remains uninterrupted throughout the roaming phase when Ruckus Wireless is used.  

Ruckus Wireless has a BeamFlex technology that empowers smart roaming. For instance, the product devices have integrated antennas and when a user is connected to one AP and keeps moving around in the same network area, the product ensures that the WiFi coverage remains the same in every area. If you are on a video call using Microsoft Teams and you move from one AP of Ruckus Wireless to another, the call doesn't get interrupted.

Ruckus Wireless incredibly supports IoT integration needs with numerous applications. I would rate Ruckus Wireless a nine out of ten and recommend that others use the solution. Ruckus Wireless is equipped well to handle new trends in WiFi technology.

The vendor should expand their product line and include routers, firewalls and large switches. The vendor should focus on providing a complete solution, as when a professional is designing a network for an organization, the person might need a firewall, security solution, and routing devices, but from Ruckus, the professional is only receiving WiFi solutions. 

I have been using Ruckus Wireless for eight years. 

The product offers impressive stability. 

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. In our company, we work with Ruckus Wireless for small, medium and large enterprises. I personally work with large enterprises who are using Ruckus Wireless satisfactorily. 

I would rate the technical support a six out of ten. The response time of the support team needs to improve. The tech support of Cisco is better than Ruckus Wireless in comparison. 

Neutral

I would rate the initial setup an eight out of ten as the solution can be easily deployed. Our company's majority of customers of small and medium businesses prefer to deploy Ruckus Wireless on-prem, but some users, depending on their use cases and geographical location, prefer the cloud version. Any organization with multiple offices in numerous locations would prefer a cloud solution. 

The deployment process of Ruckus Wireless is extremely simple, and for medium-sized enterprises with a hundred APs, the installation can be finished within a week. The deployment duration of the product varies from case to case depending on the environment. 

Ruckus Wireless can provide a satisfying ROI. For a few customers of our organization, Ruckus Wireless was deployed five years ago and is still running seamlessly for them, and the investment cost has already been covered.  

Ruckus Wireless is available at a reasonable price. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten. 

Ruckus Wireless is an easy-to-manage solution.

We didn't face any issues with the solution's stability and performance, and we had no downtimes.

We can add the hardware and licenses to scale the solution.

The installation of Ruckus Wireless was quite fast, taking a few months, depending on the project.

Ruckus Wireless is a cheaper solution than Cisco.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten.

Ruckus Wireless is an easy to manage solution. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

The most valuable feature of Ruckus Wireless is the Beamforming feature. The solution's BeamFlex technology provides good connectivity. There are various models that can be used for high-density environments. If you select a product good for high-density environments, it can scale up to 400 to 500 users. If you have a controller for Ruckus Wireless, it is better for manageability.

The solution's pricing could be cheaper.

I have been using Ruckus Wireless for eight to ten years.

Ruckus Wireless is a very stable product. The device's connectivity will also be stable if your power is stable.

You can scale the solution up to your controller capability. Ruckus Wireless has a license-based controller, and you can scale up to several devices based on the license you get. More than 250 users are using the solution in our organization. The solution's scalability depends on how you engineer your area.

The solution's technical support is good. The technical support team helps replace faulty devices. The solution's service engineers are technically sound and good.

I am also using Tanium, which is also a very good product. I chose to use Ruckus Wireless because I wanted to separate my production environment from the office environment so that nobody could disturb the production environment.

It is easy to deploy the solution by referring to the document.

I deployed the solution by myself and used my colleague's help for the physical installation. The solution's deployment is easy. I first cleared the controller side and then configured the access point.

Ruckus Wireless is an expensive solution. Ruckus Wireless has a one-time licensing, and you have to renew the controller license. If you want more technical support, you also have to take license support for access points.

Managing Ruckus Wireless is very easy. I get the access list for my device, and my selected device users can only connect with my Wi-Fi network. If you have the budget, you should choose Ruckus Wireless.

If we have a support license, the device will be replaced if there is a hardware failure. That is the main thing for any technical person because nobody can start his own network if the hardware fails.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for its performance, compatibility, and capability.

We do a lot of schools, some colleges, large civic centers, large arenas, that kind of stuff. We know how to deploy this so that they get great client connectivity and have easy guest onboarding. We can onboard guests really easily. Each guest that connects has a pre-shared key that they get. They're all unique. We have some great control over guest traffic, and great control over say, corporate traffic. We control how much bandwidth a guest user gets versus a corporate user, and who gets priority on the network.

When COVID happened, we deployed external access points to the outside of a lot of the buildings that are very weather-resistant, all-metal enclosures, and their students have been able to do assignments and schoolwork and that kind of stuff from the parking lots of the schools. They can drive up in their car, get their assignments, or do work that they need to while they're connected to the school. It made it pretty seamless as everything was already set up on their laptops. Most of the schools are what they call the one-to-one initiatives, where every student gets a laptop. They've been able to work through COVID from their cars in parking lots when they need to be at the school for something. It's really benefited a lot of the schools to be able to do that.

The solution has an easy configuration.

The performance is good.

Ruckus is way ahead of the game on a lot of stuff, like Wi-Fi 6. They're already rolling out their second version of Wi-Fi 6 which is a huge improvement over even Wi-Fi 5. The way wireless started is you had 802.11b, 802.11a, then 802.11g and 802.11n, then 802.11ac, then AC wave 2, 802.11ax, which is Wi-Fi 6, the first version. Now, the next version of Wi-Fi 6 is rolling out already.

These guys are an engineering company that has some very awesome patterns on how their radios work and their antennas and antenna patterns, and how their signaling and stuff works. That's why nobody can touch them. If they go head-to-head with anybody, they blow Cisco and Aruba out of the water, and Mist, for radio client connectivity. 

They compete head-to-head with all the big names.

As far as what they can improve, that's a good question, as they're leaders in what they do in my opinion. I don't know what they can do to improve what they're doing currently. 

They're not the most expensive, and they're not the least expensive. They're right there in the middle. Pricing might be a deciding factor for some companies. If they were cheaper, they might land more customers.

They've got a rotation or a life expectancy of about four years for the radio. Not that the radio is going to die. I've got some that are way older than that that the customers are still using. However, they take them and they end the life of them at four years.

Many of their wireless products are end of life by year four. That's most of it as technology has changed so much that those old radios can't do stuff that is now available for PCs to connect or phones to connect to, etc. What they do is they force you into upgrading. We've got a couple of cloud controllers. If I've got a cloud controller that is in the same version 5.1, and I want to go to version 5.2, due to the fact that I need to support the new radios coming out, I can't if I have some older radios on that controller. They make it so I can't upgrade that controller to the latest software to support the new radios as I've got some end of life radios on there that go end of life when I upgrade the software.

They need to be able to allow us to keep some of the older products on our cloud controllers or any of their controllers longer and just start supporting the new controllers. They force you into an upgrade unnecessarily. We have some customers that have just a few APs, small businesses that don't want to or don't need to upgrade their controllers. For us to be able to work with their latest access points, we've got to upgrade their controller, but we can't as it's got some older ones on it, and that bites us every year.

I know the reasoning behind it. It's because it could be security features or it's something that the access points don't support that newer devices do, like your laptops and cell phones. They'll support this new Wi-Fi 6 coming out, yet I can't run the same types of radios on this particular controller software anymore. They can't have both. That kind of puts me off a little bit. But that's the only thing that the company's done that's made me mad.

There's a lot of new features coming out of Wi-Fi 6 that they don't even have the chips in the phones for yet. 

I've been using the solution for six years or so at this point.

The solution is very stable. We don't have any issues with it at all.

The solution is very scalable. I can have up to three controllers, each one housing 10,000 APs. Therefore, I can have a cluster of controllers controlling 30,000 different APs. I don't have anything that big. The closest one is close to 1000, however, still, it's nice to be able to have redundancy. I can build in more redundancy if I need to. 

As a Ruckus partner, I've got access to Ruckus. I've got access to tech support and it makes things a lot easier for our end-users and the businesses that I work with. If they have an issue they can come directly to me, or they can go directly to Ruckus. It doesn't matter. I'll be happy to help them. If I can't answer the question or get them fixed, then we'll deal with tech support. I don't call tech support very often. Maybe once a year, if that. They make a good product and have good training. Once you learn it, it's pretty easy to manage. We used to have Cisco's products die on us every one or two years. I don't know the last time I had to turn in an RMA for a Ruckus radio. They have a solid product.

I've been doing it a long time, so for me, the setup is straightforward. If a person is a brand new to the system, like any system, it can be fairly complex. However, they have great documentation on their website on how to set it up. To do very complex things, that takes somebody who knows what they are doing. I've got a very complex scenario that I need to set up then that's what I get paid for - to help set that stuff up. I will go in and configure things securely for guest access and BYOD devices and corporate laptops with 802.1x. 

You can have a controller version, or it could be a controller-less. I have a standalone AP, I just got one office with one AP, I don't need it to be controlled by anything. I've got one or two SSIDs, and that can still be configured. It's just that you're doing it on the AP or they have what's called Unleashed, which is controller-less. The AP is the controller and that can do up to 50 APs all controlled by one AP. But if that AP was to die, it doesn't matter that configuration is saved on all of them and the next one in line will just take over as the controller AP. There are several different interfaces you may run into to be able to configure the things, however, they're all very similar in how they work and react. The full controller has much more capability than Unleashed, and Unleashed has more capability than the standalone. 

In terms of deployment, we figure for an AP it's about an hour and a half. That's for both configuration and installation. Therefore, if you have 20 APs, it's about 30 hours for 25 APs. That's setting up the controller, virtual or cloud-based, setting up the APs, your SSIDs, passwords, 802.1x, and then physically mounting them.

Our clients definitely get a return on investment when they purchase Ruckus.

We are a customer and reseller.

I'm using the latest version of the solution.

Through a controller, we use 802.1x. There are multiple ways to deploy it to customers, including via a cloud controller. We typically do a virtual controller on our client's systems.

I would advise, if a company is new to Ruckus, to work with a partner. It's important to have somebody that knows what they're doing, and knows what questions to ask so that you're getting the right information. When I go to do an implementation, I've got a list of 50 different questions. I'll ask somebody, what about this? What about this? What about this?

You get what you pay for. People will throw in Lynksys and this other home stuff up. I'll say, that's great. If you're a business, it won't cut it. Say you're a coffee shop and I've got 50 customers sitting side. you want all of them to get the same performance all the time. If I've got three people, four people in that coffee shop streaming videos or watching movies or whatever it might be, I want to make sure everybody gets an equal amount of time without anybody getting any interruptions. With Linksys and Ubiquiti and all these other brands, you don't get that. In head to head competition, Ruckus far outshines them 10 to one. You just can't compete. When they say it's going to do something, it'll do it. They don't put documentation out that is misleading. If it says it'll do 1,024 clients it'll do 1,024 clients. If it says it'll do 4.3 gigabytes, it'll do 4.3 gigabytes.

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for its performance, compatibility, and general capabilities. We do a lot of schools, colleges, large civic centers, large arenas, etc. That kind of stuff. We know how to deploy this so that the clients get great client connectivity.

In terms of COVID, we've deployed external access points to the outside of a lot of the buildings. These are very weather-resistant, all-metal enclosures. The students have been able to do assignments and schoolwork and that kind of stuff from the parking lots of the schools. They can drive up in their car, get their assignments, or do work that they need to while they're connected to the school. It made social distancing in this way pretty seamless as everything was already set up on their laptops. Most of the schools are what they call the one-to-one initiative, where every student gets a laptop and they've been able to work through COVID from their cars in parking lots when they needed to be at the school for something. It's really benefited a lot of the schools to be able to do that.

The performance of the product is amazing.

The ease of configuration that's on offer is very good.

The product is very compatible with other solutions.

The guest onboarding is so simple. We can onboard guests really easily. Each guest that connects has a pre-shared key that they get which are all unique. We have some great control over the guest and corporate traffic. We can control how much bandwidth a guest user gets versus a corporate user, and who gets priority on there. 

Ruckus is way ahead of the game on a lot of stuff like Wi-Fi 6. They're already rolling out the second version of Wi-Fi 6, which is a huge improvement over even Wi-Fi 5. The way wireless started is you had 802.11b, 802.11a, then 802.11g and 802.11n, then 802.11ac, then AC wave to 802.11ax which is the first version of Wi-Fi 6. The next version of Wi-Fi 6 is rolling out already.

The product has some very awesome patents on their radios and their antennas and antenna patterns and how their signaling works. That's why nobody can touch them. If they go head to head with anybody. They blow Cisco and Aruba out of the water and even Mist for radio plant connectivity. On top of that, they have very good engineering. If I ever need help with engineering stuff, I can call on them. The company does a really good job, which is why we've stayed with them.

They're leaders in what they're doing. I don't know what they can do to improve what they're doing currently. 

The cost could be slightly improved. It's not on the low end, and it's not in the high end. It's in that middle area, which can be a deciding factor between someone going with this solution versus another one.

They've got a rotation or a life expectancy of about four years for the radio. Not that radio is going to die right hten. I've got some that are way older than that, that the customers are still using. However, they take them and they end the life of them at four years. Any of their wireless products are end of life by year four. Most of it's because technology has changed so much that those old videos can't do stuff that is now available for PCs to connect or phones to connect to that kind of stuff. 

What they do is they force you into a Cloud controller. We've got a couple of them. If I've got a Cloud controller there and it's on version 5.1, and I want to go to version 5.2, bdue to the fact that I need to support the new radios coming out, I can't if I have some older radios on that controller. I can't upgrade that controller to the latest software to support the new radios as I've got some end of life radios on there that go into life when I upgrade the software. They need to be able to allow us to keep some of the older products on the Cloud controllers or any of their controllers longer, and just start supporting the new controllers. They force you into an upgrade unnecessarily.

We have some customers that have just a few APs. There are some small businesses that don't want to, or don't need to upgrade their controllers and they're crushing their access points. For us to be able to work with the latest access points, we've got to upgrade our controller, however, we can't. That bites us every year. We'll have customers that have APs that are going end of life that still work fine, but we can't manage them anymore.

I know the reasoning behind it is it could be security features or it's something that the access points don't support that newer devices do. They'll support this new Wi-Fi 6 coming out, however, I can't run the same types of radios on this particular controller software anymore. That kind of puts me off a little bit, however, that's the only thing that the company has done that's made me mad.

I've been using the solution for the past six years.

The stability of the product is rock solid. We haven't had any issues at all.

The solution is extremely scalable. I can have up to three controllers with each one housing 10,000 APS. I can have a cluster of controllers controlling 30,000 different APS. I don't have anything that big. One is close to a thousand and that's the biggest I have. Still, it's nice to be able to build in more redundancy. 

As a Ruckus partner, I've got access to Ruckus. I've got access to tech support, and it makes things a lot easier for the end-users and businesses I work with. If they have an issue, they can come directly to me or they can go directly to Ruckus, it doesn't matter. I'll be happy to help them. If I can't answer the question or get them fixed, then we'll get with tech support. I don't call tech support very often. Maybe once a year, if that. They make a good product and offer good training. Once you learn it, it's pretty easy to manage. 

We used to have Cisco's products for one or two years. I don't know the last time I had to turn in an RMA for a Ruckus radio. They're a solid product.

I've been doing implementations for a long time. If it's brand new to the system, like any system, it can be fairly complex. However, they have great documentation on their website on how to set it up. If a client needs complexity, however, they need help. That's where I come in.

I can go in and configure things securely for guest access and BYOB devices and corporate laptops with 802.1X. I have a stand-alone AP, I just got one office with one AP. I don't need it to be controlled by anything. If I've got one or two SSID, it can still be configured. It's just that you're doing it on the AP or, alternatively, they have what's called Unleashed, which is controller-less. The AP is the controller that can do up to 50 APs all controlled by one AP. If that AP was to die, it doesn't matter, that configuration is saved on all of them. 

There are several different interfaces you may run into, to be able to configure everything. However, they're all very similar in how they work and react. The full controller has much more capability than Unleashed and at least has more capability on the stand-alone. In any case, it's all well documented, and all straightforward.

In terms of deployment times, we figure for AP it's an hour and a half, so you can just figure in that as the base amount of time you need for each AP and that includes configuration and installation. Therefore, if you have 20 APs, it's about 30 hours for 25 APs and that's setting up the controller virtual, or Cloud-based, setting up the AP, the SSIDs, passwords, 802.1X., and then physically mounting them.

The solution definitely offers my clients a good ROI after they implement it.

They don't really need to be cheaper. They're not the most expensive, and they're not the least expensive. They're right there in the middle.

We're a reseller as well as a customer.

We're running the latest software. We deploy through a controller and we use 802.1X. There're multiple ways to deploy to customers. There's a cloud controller, for example. We typically do a virtual controller on their systems.

If a company is new to Ruckus, it's best to work with a partner. You need somebody that knows what they're doing, and knows what questions to ask so that you're getting the right information. When I go to do an implementation, I've got a list of 50 different questions. I'll ask somebody, what about this? What about this? What about this? It will help with the implementation process if someone has a complete view of what to ask for and what to do.

You get what you pay for. People will throw in Linksys, and this other stuff. If you're a business, say you're a coffee shop and you have 50 customers sitting there. You want all of them to get the same performance all the time. I want to make sure everybody gets an equal amount of time without anybody getting any interruptions.

With Linksys and Ubiquiti and all these other brands, you don't get that. When it comes to the head-to-head competition, the Ruckus far out-shines them. Ten to one, you just can't compete. When they say it's going to do something, it does it. They don't put documentation out that is misleading. If it says it'll do 1,024 clients it'll do 1,024 clients. If it says it'll do 4.3 gigabytes, it'll do 4.3 gigabytes. It's great.

Overall, I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.