We performed a comparison between Aruba Wireless and Ubiquiti UniFi based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Aruba Networking, Cisco, Ruckus and others in Wireless LAN."It provides private network access, helping us protect our company’s devices."
"The most valuable feature of Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) is the ability to troubleshoot ports on the network. Additionally, when there is an update on the APs they are able to reboot quickly reducing downtime. Other solutions have a longer downtime when updates are done."
"In terms of reporting, in terms of all the user reports, it's very rich."
"Overall, we've been very pleased with the performance."
"The solution is very secure."
"The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis."
"With Mist, every Wednesday they roll out new features."
"The simplicity is great."
"It provides excellent performance and security through the use of available features and policies, reducing the reliance on external firewall configurations while ensuring a secure and reliable network environment."
"The solution provides a clear path to instant wireless."
"Installation is relatively easy."
"It helps the user to have a better vision of what is happening in their network."
"It has improved overall IT efficiency across the board."
"I have not experienced any bugs, software, or hardware issues with Aruba."
"The main features of Aruba Wireless in my country is its popularity, long hardware warranty when compared to other solutions, and it integrates well with our network access control solution."
"As we have acquired a few companies, having the ability to have multiple RADIUS connections has helped us."
"The most valuable features are its easy access, the controller, and constant updates."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is how it is centralized."
"Overall, the suite of tools is quite useful."
"The level of reporting offered by the controller, when used with other Ubiquiti equipment, has been invaluable."
"I like the centralized management console, where we can add all of the devices to the Unifi controller and then management them from a single point."
"Functionality of the cloud key in terms of monitoring and managing the environment."
"Firmware can be pushed or manually updated."
"The cloud management has revolutionized the way we provide services to clients, onsite trips have almost ceased and once complicated changes are made in minutes."
"The pricing should be made cheaper."
"Improvement is needed in the user-friendliness of Juniper Mist, particularly in enhancing the interaction with AI features."
"There is room for improvement in terms of support and installation."
"Improving third-party integration is key for Juniper Mist's next release."
"Enrolling into the tool is a tedious process."
"I need a bit more time with it before criticizing the features."
"If you want to do more specific stuff, it's a bit limited."
"Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) could improve if the MIST platform had a built-in master key. This would be an advantage."
"If you want a centralized management system that is able to manage all your networking devices such as the wireless, the switch, the routers, and the firewall, then Aruba may not be the one, because Aruba doesn't do firewalls."
"Better integration with equipment from other vendors would ease the deployment process in some cases."
"What needs improvement in Aruba Wireless is its access point, in particular, it should have more flexibility. Aruba Wireless has Campus AP, Instant AP, and Unified AP, but it would be better if the product has a generic access point that you can manage over the cloud, on-premise, etc. Another area for improvement in Aruba Wireless is scalability. In terms of what additional features I'd like to see in the product, I'm unsure if it's already on the roadmap, but if possible, it would be good to have an SD-WAN functionality on the AP in Aruba Wireless."
"The certification for licensing could be better."
"MAC authentication against an external Radius server while using 802.1X. This feature will help the L2 devices to authenticate via external Radius servers."
"The vendor should include multiple additional protocols"
"Configuration could be made easier with more bandwidth than they offer at the moment."
"The Help option within the GUI needs to be improved."
"Setting up IP generation for something like guest access is pretty confusing and should be improved."
"They provide support via Chat ONLY, and moreover, they are not very knowledgeable."
"Documentation could be improved, especially regarding known issues or new features. It relies heavily on the user community to provide support and info. There is a vast user group with support groups on both the dedicated forums as well as most social media platforms."
"If I could manage the W-LAN or other items without a UniFi switch, that would be very helpful. I have not tried, but I think some options are tied to the hardware, like the Ubiquiti switch."
"Software interfaces could be improved and there is a lack of documentation."
"A more powerful heatmapping application in the controller would assist in more reliable WiFi modeling."
"Better pre-purchase docs, as I have to contact support via chat for some things that should already be in documents."
"I don't like the concept of the QoS, Quality of Service configuration because it doesn't give very granular configuration access to prioritize network traffic."
More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →
Aruba Wireless is ranked 1st in Wireless LAN with 139 reviews while Ubiquiti UniFi is ranked 1st in Wi-Fi Hotspot Software with 10 reviews. Aruba Wireless is rated 8.4, while Ubiquiti UniFi is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Aruba Wireless writes "The portal for centralized management and virtual controller for APs are very valuable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Ubiquiti UniFi writes "The cloud management has revolutionized the way we provide services to clients". Aruba Wireless is most compared with Cisco Wireless, Ruckus Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN and Ubiquiti WLAN, whereas Ubiquiti UniFi is most compared with Purple WiFi and Guest Internet Solutions.
We monitor all Wireless LAN reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
1 Ruckus
2 Aruba
3 Cambium
It depends on your enviroment.
Greetings
Here's my recommendation in order.
#1 Aruba
#2 Ruckus
#3 Ubiquiti
Hi Vinny,
I recommend you the following devices:
1. Ruckus: Easily to deploy. Expensive but effective. Don’t ask for the advanced license - you don’t need it. Buy only the basic one. A great option for hard users performance and large venues.
2. Ubiquiti: Easy to deploy, cheap but limited hardware. This is an option for basic performance.
3. Aruba: Easy to deploy, expensive, bad UX experience.
4. Cambium networks: A good option, between Ruckus and Ubiquiti.
5. Huawei. Never. Never. Never. Bad UX, bad support experience, bad hardware, bad everything.
6. Meraki. Too expensive. Don’t!
Regards!
If you want high performance and stability, you should definitely go with Ruckus Wireless.
Ruckus Wireless APs have:
- Adaptive antenna technology (called BeamFlex)
This technology analyzes different paths to reach the client and electronically turns itself to a directional antenna, choosing the path that gives the best performance to reach each specific client. If the client is mobile or if the environment changes (such as a warehouse) the selection of paths/direction also changes instantly.
Transmitting in a directional way allows a good Signal-to-Noise Ratio and also causes less interference for other nearby APs outside the path of the directional transmission.
- ChannelFly technology
This technology chooses the best channel based on performance rather than background scanning for noise.
- Polarization Diversity
This technology allows the clients not to lose signal strength when held at different angles (important for mobile devices such as tablets and telephones).
- Better receive sensitivity compared to the competitors
All these features make Ruckus Wireless a better choice than any other competitor (better performance, better coverage area, more stable and surprise-free communication especially in not so easy conditions such as noise, too many clients, too much traffic).
Selecting an AP depends upon a couple of factors which include (the number of users per AP, coverage area and required speed/throughput)
My recommendations are:
1. Ruckus
2. Aruba
3. Cisco
Ruckus:
Performs well in a high-density environment, with unique adaptive antenna technology & PD-MRC gives more coverage and interference mitigation. Ruckus offers a reliable Wireless network solution.
Aruba:
Good but not the best with better security features.
Cisco:
Complex deployment, is costly but it has better compatibility.
I have a smaller venue where I am using Unifi: Dream Machine UDM, Aggregation Switch, U6-Lite APs and Pro Switches...fiber optic backbone.
I am extremely satisfied with its performance. I can't tell about the other brands.
Have a look at Juniper Mist solution - it used in large retail stores and corps as well as a full integrated AI suite.
You can implement hundreds in just a few hours using foundation staff as it can all be programmed up on the cloud, no need for expensive network engineers to deploy
https://mist.com
Malcolm
Hi Vinny,
I'm biased toward Ubiquiti Unifi, but successful Wi-Fi deployment is hugely dependant on the type and number of Wi-Fi users, and more importantly, the layout and environment of the area you would like to cover.
Please feel free to PM me to discuss your application.
Regards,
Steve Pender