B****y WLANs - Save me Ruckus

[hagridsbeard]

Wish I'd never said to the head 'We need a WLAN as it's holding the school back, can I have 30K?'

 

Now I've got so many different types of kit and quotes and facts and figures, I'm having a breakdown.

 

Current tops dogs are:

 

• HP
  
• Meru
  
• Aruba
  

 

However, you can't open a tab here without hearing about Ruckus, but none of my suppliers can provide it or are trying to convince me that it's all lies.

 

Basically, I need to make my mind up really really quickly and get the kit ordered and on it's way before Wednesday next week as my trial (HP in one part, Meru in the other) kit is going on next Friday and I need something to replace it.

 

So, whos the Ruckus rep for the North West and can they get to my school quick sharp to tell me why I should choose ruckus over the other four.

 

Then please god let me hear the last of cells, channels, radios, standards, etc etc...

 

Oh, and anyone with any honest opinion of the top four, feel free to vent.

[Haptic]

Wish I'd never said to the head 'We need a WLAN as it's holding the school back, can I have 30K?'

 

Now I've got so many different types of kit and quotes and facts and figures, I'm having a breakdown.

 

Current tops dogs are:

 

• HP
  
• Meru
  
• Aruba
  

 

However, you can't open a tab here without hearing about Ruckus, but none of my suppliers can provide it or are trying to convince me that it's all lies.

 

Basically, I need to make my mind up really really quickly and get the kit ordered and on it's way before Wednesday next week as my trial (HP in one part, Meru in the other) kit is going on next Friday and I need something to replace it.

 

So, whos the Ruckus rep for the North West and can they get to my school quick sharp to tell me why I should choose ruckus over the other four.

 

Then please god let me hear the last of cells, channels, radios, standards, etc etc...

 

Oh, and anyone with any honest opinion of the top four, feel free to vent.

 

 

Hi hagridsbeard,

 

As a Ruckus Wireless Big Dog Partner and official Edugeek Sponsor that has supplied many a happy Edugeek member are known for offering the best deals of Ruckus Managed wireless in the UK, combine this with our expert knowledge and support this makes it a win win situation.

If you would like to pm me your full details I will contact you first thing to discuss further and look at supplying you with a evaluation unit to see the benefits that this fully managed cost effective solution can offer you,

For example we saved a school

Be sure to checkout our outstanding feedback in the recomended suppliers section of the forums below,

 

To give you an example we saved a school close to 4k on a ruckus deal this week against our competitors pricing,

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/recommended-suppliers/

 

p.s as we are not vendor biased we can also offer you all of the above mentioned solutions at great prices also,

Simon

 

http://www.edentelecom.co.za/pix/ruckus.gif.gif http://www.airspy.com/images/logos/meru_networks_logo.jpg http://www.digitalairwireless.com/images/vignettes/extricom.jpg http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/brands/0014/9867/brand.gif

Edited November 13, 2009 by Haptic

[KWestos]

Wish I'd never said to the head 'We need a WLAN as it's holding the school back, can I have 30K?'

 

Now I've got so many different types of kit and quotes and facts and figures, I'm having a breakdown.

 

Current tops dogs are:

 

• HP
  
• Meru
  
• Aruba
  

 

However, you can't open a tab here without hearing about Ruckus, but none of my suppliers can provide it or are trying to convince me that it's all lies.

 

Basically, I need to make my mind up really really quickly and get the kit ordered and on it's way before Wednesday next week as my trial (HP in one part, Meru in the other) kit is going on next Friday and I need something to replace it.

 

So, whos the Ruckus rep for the North West and can they get to my school quick sharp to tell me why I should choose ruckus over the other four.

 

Then please god let me hear the last of cells, channels, radios, standards, etc etc...

 

Oh, and anyone with any honest opinion of the top four, feel free to vent.

 

Hi, I see that Simon from CPLTD has contacted you. All I can say is:

 

A: Nobody will beat CPLTD's price - PERIOD!

B: Simon from CPLTD is a great guy and will look after you - PERIOD!

C: Ruckus wireless is amazing - PERIOD!

D: Ruckus is probabaly the best product for the price (and more) - PERIOD!

 

I have NO connection with Simon or CPLTD, but I just wanted to say how they helped me a great deal in choosing my wireless setup and provided me with great advice and help every step of the way.

 

I PROMISE you, that if you purchase the Ruckus system, you will NOT be disappointed.

 

If you want to talk to me about Ruckus or CPLTD, please PM me! - I'm also from the North West, but to be honest, when you attach the Ruckus to your network, you don't need anyone else, it's just SO easy - I PROMISE!

 

Like I said, I have no affiliation with CPLTD, but I honestly believe, it's worth commenting on a good guy with a good product at a great price.

 

Please contact me if you want to talk about Ruckus or CPLTD. Better still, come to our school and I'll show you how good and easy it is!

 

Regards

 

Karl:)

[hagridsbeard]

Hi Carl,

 

Thanks for that. Can you PM me your email and contact details?

 

If possible, do you think I could visit tomorrow or Monday?

 

I'm getting quite stressed with all this and as time is short I don't think I'll be able to trial the kit so seeing it in situ may be a good idea.

[KWestos]

Hi Carl,

 

Thanks for that. Can you PM me your email and contact details?

 

If possible, do you think I could visit tomorrow or Monday?

 

I'm getting quite stressed with all this and as time is short I don't think I'll be able to trial the kit so seeing it in situ may be a good idea.

 

I'll do it right now. You are welcome to come any time!!!!

[dwhyte85]

I feel your pain on time constraints for ordering... I'm/was in the exact same situation - I had Wednesday-Friday to get it going!

 

 

Wish I'd never said to the head 'We need a WLAN as it's holding the school back, can I have 30K?'

 

Now I've got so many different types of kit and quotes and facts and figures, I'm having a breakdown.

 

Current tops dogs are:

 

• HP
  
• Meru
  
• Aruba
  

 

However, you can't open a tab here without hearing about Ruckus, but none of my suppliers can provide it or are trying to convince me that it's all lies.

 

Basically, I need to make my mind up really really quickly and get the kit ordered and on it's way before Wednesday next week as my trial (HP in one part, Meru in the other) kit is going on next Friday and I need something to replace it.

 

So, whos the Ruckus rep for the North West and can they get to my school quick sharp to tell me why I should choose ruckus over the other four.

 

Then please god let me hear the last of cells, channels, radios, standards, etc etc...

 

Oh, and anyone with any honest opinion of the top four, feel free to vent.

[GrumbleDook]

There are a number of other Ruckus suppliers, some who provide very hands-on support with setup and can give you bespoke advice for your school. Personally I would also suggest talking to the guys at Net-Ctrl too about it but other Ruckus vendors and partners are available (actually ... only 2 gold partners I think ... one being Net-Ctrl)

[EduTech]

Yes make sure you give Net-Ctrl a buzz, Aggy or Mark on the forums will be able to sort you out. I have dealt with Mark for a while now and him and his team have always been there when i needed them and there support is fantastic cant fault them 1 bit.

 

As tony said, they are one of the very very few GOLD Partners for Ruckus kit, they specialize in this and know everything you can now about it, certainly recommend just speaking with them.

 

If anything remember that it's not all about cheap prices, SUPPORT is something that should be on the top of your list, and with Net-Ctrl you get this and more!

 

Mark - http://www.edugeek.net/forums/members/markpower.html

Aggy - http://www.edugeek.net/forums/members/aggy.html

 

We have a smaller installation at the moment and LOVE it! Had a few problems but they had Ruckus and There Specialist (Stuart) onto it straight away and it was sorted with in a few hours!

 

James.

[jamin100]

Yes I agree, Mark from Net-Ctrl sorted us out here. Amazing support also!

[ninjabeaver]

Aggy is on her hols at the mo until Monday, and Mark is out of the office until today as I'm now in the process of procuring some Ruckus gear as well.

 

Aggy still phoned me yesterday though.... mad woman. It's the support like that that really counts IMHO. Mark also contacted me via email yesterday as well. Dedicated lot there.

[alan-d]

We had our ruckus kit from Net-Ctrl too. We have an unusual problem here in that some channels are being flooded by some external source that ruckus (or any other kit) could not handle properly. Once we and Mark from Net-Ctrl figured this out we manually assigned channels on the worst affected areas and it now works very well.

 

[dwhyte85]

Having received quotes I found CP to be cheaper by quite a bit (nearly a fifth) to other quotes which has saved me scouting out a different product in a very short period of time. I'm not here to be friends with any suppliers & I will complain about suppliers if they're poor - check my other posts. CP went beyond the call of duty yesterday... I expect good service as a standard when spending the governments money - what I received was excellect service & a better price.

 

That's my personal experience - I can't vouch for everyone else.

 

My guessing is that you'd need to get more than one set of quotes anyway before you could go ahead for auditing purposes?

[hagridsbeard]

Having received quotes I found CP to be cheaper by quite a bit (nearly a fifth) to other quotes which has saved me scouting out a different product in a very short period of time. I'm not here to be friends with any suppliers & I will complain about suppliers if they're poor - check my other posts. CP went beyond the call of duty yesterday... I expect good service as a standard when spending the governments money - what I received was excellect service & a better price.

 

That's my personal experience - I can't vouch for everyone else.

 

My guessing is that you'd need to get more than one set of quotes anyway before you could go ahead for auditing purposes?

 

I'm not getting quotes for the same kit. But I've got quotes for the above 4 from three different suppliers.

 

All falling around £15,000 (not Cisco, they were 23K) for 25 x Dual Radio N APS, 1 x Controller.

 

Its such a horrible position to be in as it has to be right and scale to support all SLT plans (VOIP, eveery students laptop etc).

 

Ruckus seems too good to be true, the only thing that worries me is that they are an unknown over here (in fairness, so are Meru). HP, Cisco and to a lesser extent Aruba are unlilely to go anywhere, but who knows about Meru and Ruckus.

[alan-d]

With the Ruckus kit you will probably find you won't need as many APs. We went from 40+ Buffalo APs to 29 Ruckus APs to give us site wide coverage.

[Jobos]

When buying Ruckus kit I see Ruckus resellers also recommend buying into software/hardware support. Is this extra support really needed or just a ploy to make money?

[EduTech]

Aggy still phoned me yesterday though.... mad woman. It's the support like that that really counts IMHO. Mark also contacted me via email yesterday as well. Dedicated lot there.

 

I agree! They even contact me when they are on there holidays! mark even phoned me on the evening just to make sure everything was okay and update me on what he was doing! To know that they look after there clients, when they are on holiday, out of the office or when they have gone home they are always there to support your needs! what more can you ask for really?

[Edu-IT]

When buying Ruckus kit I see Ruckus resellers also recommend buying into software/hardware support. Is this extra support really needed or just a ploy to make money?

This covers firmware upgrades etc.

[Haptic]

Partner Premium Support consists of software upgrades and replacement of faulty hardware within a 48hr period from reporting and a dedicated Ruckus Helpline direct with ourselves,

Software support conists of just software upgrades but you do recieve your stand warranty for the hardware of 12 months which offers a 30 day return and repair.

 

I hope that helps fella

[Jobos]

Partner Premium Support consists of software upgrades and replacement of faulty hardware within a 48hr period from reporting and a dedicated Ruckus Helpline direct with ourselves,

Software support conists of just software upgrades but you do recieve your stand warranty for the hardware of 12 months which offers a 30 day return and repair.

 

I hope that helps fella

 

With software support, how often are the upgrades and does it make a great difference to the operation of the Ruckus kit?

[zag]

Using Aruba here and couldn't be happier, excellent system that just works.

 

Cost us 20k for 30 AP's and the controller.

 

I can't believe we put up with an unmanaged system for so long.

[Haptic]

With software support, how often are the upgrades and does it make a great difference to the operation of the Ruckus kit?

 

Software upgrades are important to the smooth operation of your Ruckus Network , I have seen around four of these updates within a six moth period so far,

[Hollie1985]

I agree with EduTech that it is not always the cheapest is best -far from it.

 

I am a fan of Extricom it just plugs into Cisco, standard n compliant, robust connectivity. The company i work for are an IT reseller and in our experiences of many of the wireless companies mentioned Extricom gives us no complaints it just works the boss is happy which is the main thing and we have wireless that works

[Haptic]

I agree with EduTech that it is not always the cheapest is best -far from it.

 

I am a fan of Extricom it just plugs into Cisco, standard n compliant, robust connectivity. The company i work for are an IT reseller and in our experiences of many of the wireless companies mentioned Extricom gives us no complaints it just works the boss is happy which is the main thing and we have wireless that works

 

Agree with you there Hollie, Extricom is a superb system which we have supplied to many customers , mainly into the healthcare sector , The only thing I would say about this solution is the cost is not as beneficial as the Ruckus or Meru solutions.

[EduTech]

I Must admit if do like the Extricom Equipment, and i believe this does cope alot better with regards to VOIP but saying that i have seen schools use VOIP on Ruckus Kit.

 

Oh and with regards to AP's when we was looking at a new Wireless System Meru said we needed like 40+ AP's when Ruckus (Net-Ctrl) came in they cut us down to 22 AP's! and that is with the field covered also!

 

But yeah i wont knock Extricom it is very good and tell me if i am wrong, but the only reason i would say look at extricom if you are looking at using at VOIP very heavily! if like most schools you just need a very stable and smart wireless system with some VOIP RUCKUS is the way!

 

James.

[Hollie1985]

Agree with you there Hollie, Extricom is a superb system which we have supplied to many customers , mainly into the healthcare sector , The only thing I would say about this solution is the cost is not as beneficial as the Ruckus or Meru solutions.

 

Yep Healthcare need reliable robust wireless hence why they go for Extricom, it works!

 

We think Extricom are a forward thinking company and this is great for Schools that want to be innovative and are planning ahead 12 months ready for the new and exciting things coming out for education/learning it is worth the investment paying for something that works and it works well