Replace or not to replace!?

[mm3]

We currently have a ruckus system in place (ZD3000 and 40 x ZF7363) not used heavily due to students not allowed access to wifi.

 

we are going to give the students wifi access after September (BYOD).

 

the lease for our ruckus system is about to end so I have decided to look around and see if it is worth sticking with what we have (3 years old) or continue a new lease and replace with newer or an alternative solution?

 

We have no problems with the ruckus systems it has never been heavily tested at the moment we would have around 200 connections across the school.

when we allow byod it will be over 1300 connections

 

any thoughts?

[Steve21]

You're in a similar position to us where the APs are end of life. Ours aren't actually even supported in the newer software releases so we can't upgrade any further. (Not sure if yours are at that stage yet as they're slightly newer)

 

Also I'd assume you'd be wanting AC if you're going to have that many devices hitting.

 

The controller will support the new APs so an option might just be to replace the APs

 

Steve

[fiberoptics]

Have a new one

[ajrw-VIADEX]

Will there be separate SSIDs for students and staff? There are better solutions out there than ruckus just depends on the requirements.

[twin--turbo]

Define your BYOD before considering wifi.

 

AC is only really any use on Laptops, mobile devices are going to have a slow takeup as it kills battery life.

[TheRobins]

Define your BYOD before considering wifi.

 

AC is only really any use on Laptops, mobile devices are going to have a slow takeup as it kills battery life.

 

Most Apple devices, and mid to high end android devices are now shipping with AC, I see around about 65% of my students using AC devices on our Meru Network.

[White_Fi]

The ZD3000 is fine but I would consider upgrading the AP as the 7363 are EOL and 9.12.x is going to be the last supported revision for the APs.

 

High-end smartphones and tablets do have 802.11ac chipsets and some are even MU-MIMO ready, such as the Galaxy S6. Samsung are likely to capitalise with releasing a new phone rather than enable the feature on the current handset but it shows "wave-2" ac features are out there and ready.

 

With that in mind the question is do you go "wave1" with the R5/6/700 or straight in with the R710 "wave2" to support, in my eyes, the only big 802.11ac features that makes sense in an enterprise wireless network: MU-MIMO. And that feature is a game changer for wireless capacity in general.

[robjduk]

Im in exactly the same boat and bought a couple of R500 AP's to test if its worth patching the cracks rather than going all out and replacing although I am starting to get in a very wireless mood since going to BETT.

[timbo343]

Thanks @White_Fi for giving us some expert knowledge on this.

 

Im at a cross roads too with my system. Ive got 2x1112 controllers and 12x 7363 APs. I need to exoand my wifi as we have about 49% average signal %. Its going to cost my roughly £2000 to upgrade each of the licenses to a 25 AP license and then stick some more APs in place, where a new system over 5 years would cost just above 2k per year for 1x 1200 with 28 APs, brackets and injectors but obviously thats for everything but ive already got 12 injectors now. I just have to try and justify this to our management team to hold the key to our budgets.