Ruckus vs Cisco

[chrvnl]

We currently have Ruckus for our wireless network but we're also looking into Cisco equipment. Between these two brands, which do you think is better in terms of performance and price?

[localzuk]

Ruckus. Cisco is overly complicated to configure, and in my experience, the access points aren't as advanced as Ruckus, so you need more to cover an area.

[RobFrain]

Simple - Its got to be Ruckus. Normally cheaper, better equipment and so much easier to configure!

[pantscat]

Definitely Ruckus - I looked at both side-by-side and the Ruckus kit was far better in terms of performance (IMHO).

Also - configuration is a breeze.

[chrvnl]

But what if Cisco is making this offer... Is it still not worth it?

[pantscat]

Depends on the pricing, really, and how it compares.

[localzuk]

Depends how many access points you're actually gonna need too. 2 reduced price APs won't get many schools very far.

[chrvnl]

Depends how many access points you're actually gonna need too. 2 reduced price APs won't get many schools very far.

 

We're planning to buy 10-14 APs for our new building. We received a quote from Ruckus and the price of the ZD is around 3,000 USD excluding the price of APs with only 802.11n technology where as the WLC of Cisco is free.

[john]

Ruckus for sure we have replaced Cisco with it in offices and no-one misses or complains about the Cisco kit and we used less APs and it just works so much better

[localzuk]

For 10-14 APs, you could use Ruckus Unleashed. Or, if you have a virtual setup already, you could run Ruckus Virtual SmartZone in a virtual machine, and pay licensing per AP. We had a quote for a system here with 15 APs with 802.11ac, the virtual smartzone system and 1 year's support for around $13k (£10k GBP). The controller bit on its own, is about $1300.

[chrvnl]

Ruckus for sure we have replaced Cisco with it in offices and no-one misses or complains about the Cisco kit and we used less APs and it just works so much better

@john With your experience in Cisco, how did you configure the devices? Was the WLC in GUI or CLI?

[DMcCoy]

If the 2504 is anything like the 5508 then all traffic defaults to going through the controller, which is where I'm guessing this 1Gb throughput comes from.

 

with ruckus the AP handles the vlans and firewalling, but you have to be careful with long term plans as the 1xxx series controllers can be limited for AP model support (3000s are ok), along with needing vlans configuring on all wireless ports.

 

The Cisco seems to have 1Gb combined total throughput for all aps (in default tunnel config), but doesn't need so much end point port configuration.

 

I've looked after some cisco 5508 installs and many ruckus ones, and prefer the ruckus. The 5508 (and presumably 2504) are ancient hardware and have a ridiculous stateless firewall, a terrible web gui, and the additional cli gives it nothing over the ruckus as the os is not ios.

 

I wouldn't buy cisco, and always try to get ruckus when it has a good bundle offer on.

Edited February 26, 2016 by DMcCoy

[FN-GM]

We replaced a 2 year old Cisco wireless with Ruckus in all our schools. Cisco wireless is simply expensive and rubbish!

[korifugi]

I'd definitely say Ruckus - although one of my sites recently went with a xirrus system and I have to say I'm impressed.

[JSchlackman]

Ruckus. Cisco Aironet wireless just doesn't cut it IMO.

 

Now, Cisco Meraki is a different matter... there's a reason Cisco bought them out, and it's not just because of how good the cloud console is. I would say the radio performance of Ruckus is still better, but Meraki is a much closer comparison than Aironet.

[mikkydoos]

I'm not sold on Cisco AP's. The ones I've used aren't anything like as good as Ruckus.

[Snuffkins]

We did the exact opposite. We replaced a Ruckus system with Cisco wireless. We've had absolutely no issues at all. With that being said we had no issues with the Ruckus system, but it was basically time to refresh. Price wise i don't think you can go wrong with Ruckus. We got a very good offer at the time as all networking equipment was being refreshed. So even though i actually have a positive experience of Cisco wireless in your position i would go with Ruckus.

[john]

@john With your experience in Cisco, how did you configure the devices? Was the WLC in GUI or CLI?

 

I didn't have the "joy" of dealing with it in that depth just writing orders and configuring Ruckus to replace it