Preferred managed wireless solution?

[ITtech35]

Hi all

 

Just looking for some opinions on your managed wireless. We have the ok to replace our old system which constantly crashes and cannot cope with the amount of devices we have in school. I'm currently looking at Rucus which I've heard is very reliable.

 

We currently have 250+ wireless devices soon to be more like 400, these are a mixture of ipads/netbooks/ android devices. Would like to set up guest access if possible for BYOD

 

Not too worried about cost would just like some opinions!

 

Thanks

[john]

Yep very happy with Ruckus been a happy user of it for over 10 years in 4 places of work and still rolling it out now globally where I work Always used @Net-Ctrl as my vendor the support and service is top notch never faulted them.

[zag]

We use Aruba here and I love its stability.

 

Worked really well and all our transmitters are now 802.11ac

[Patrick]

I normally use ubiquiti products and i've always been happy.

[foofighterjim]

Loving Aerohive, it has a big bonus where if you can't grantee if all devices will support .11x (such as BYOD). You can use PPSK and have each user authenticate with their own unique key, even better is that this authentication happens at the edge so reduces network overhead.

[Arreks]

Meraki.. though everyone will be using something different on EduGeek and I'm sure everyone will have positive experiences!

[Davit2005]

Another vote for Ruckus installed at a previous place quite easy to setup, here we have 100+ HP Access points plus 2 teamed MSM's which rarely gives us problems.

[achedgy]

Another vote for Unifi, rock solid and works really nicely without costing the earth

[xenonive]

I'm using HP wireless with no issues but did see company called Airtight are now in the UK , this is the wireless used in the pentagon. Seem to be fully cloud controlled and has ability to kill other wireless networks and hotspots students might bring in .

[FN-GM]

We are currently replacing a Cisco Wireless in one school and another school that has Extricom with a new Ruckus setup. Cisco isn't great simple as. Extricom is good, but has limitations. Ruckus bay far will be a better solution than all of these.

[witch]

There is lots of info on edugeek as this question has been asked many times before - have a search around!

I have Ruckus in one school and Meru in the other and am pretty happy with both - but Ruckus is significantly cheaper

[foofighterjim]

and has ability to kill other wireless networks and hotspots students might bring in .

 

You will probably find that although some systems are capable of this (Aerohive is one) it is actually illegal to use it.

[Michael]

Just avoid D-Link - the number of old/inadequate D-Link systems I seem to rip out these days - it really is home kit trying to fit in a corporate/education environment!

 

For that many devices, I'd agree a managed system rather than unmanaged would be appropriate. Regardless what system you choose, an Access Point in as many teaching/learning areas is the way to go, rather than one massive centralised solution. Post war school buildings really were built to last and very quickly/easily degrades even the best wireless solutions out there!

 

You may also wish to consider introducing VLANs to your wireless solution, if you're considering creating a BYOD or Guest network.

[mhowell]

HI ITtech35

Happy to put you in touch with local schools to you running Meru who you could speak to

Feel free to PM me or contact me directly [email protected]

Thx

Mark