Ruckus R650 vs TP-Link EAP660 HD?

[creidhne]

So, I'm looking at these APs and I see that the speeds are similar, features are as well. Ruckus has a few advantages:
- in signal stability and coverage (or so I've read)
- doesn't require a controller (though TP-Link can be hosted in a VM, so at least I don't need to pay anything extra to connect 2-3 APs together)
- supports zigbee (I don't have anything utilizing this, but maybe would explore in the future)

Ruckus R650 refurbished on ebay costs around 400eur (no PSU, no ceiling bracket - just the AP).
I see EAP660 HD available locally for around 230eur new with warranty and standard accessories.
Am I missing something here? Is Ruckus that much better and worth the price difference, or should I just go with TP-Link and not overthink it?

 

[i386]

Is Ruckus that much better and worth the price difference, or should I just go with TP-Link and not overthink it?

I can't compare it to tp-link aps (never had one), only to fritzbox routers/wifi devices and the ruckus easily outperformed them even in low power mode (15w I think with just one antenna working)

 

[ms264556]

Ruckus R650 refurbished on ebay costs around 400eur (no PSU, no ceiling bracket - just the AP).

Ruckus R650 should occasionally pop up at €250. At this price I'd buy vs a new EAP660 for the extra range and ability to fill in dead spots.

If you're willing to tinker a little (and buy an EOL product) then the R730 can be a good alternative. I swapped my main R650 for an R730 a few days ago & have been very happy. Especially if you have a multistorey home then the R730 composite antenna pattern is less flat than most other APs - I got an extra 5db on my ground floor vs an R650 (which was already fantastic), which is enough so I'm going to remove my downstairs AP. You should be able to get a used R730 imported for under €150 (I paid €110 last time). You can install Unleashed 200.14 and remove the US country lock.

 

[ms264556]

Also, regarding Ruckus PSU and brackets...

The cheap Chinese 2.5Gb PoE switches usually supply 802.3bt from port 1. This is enough for the R730. Any newish switch should do 802.3at which will be enough for the R650. If you want DC then order a 48V power supply and a 5.5x2.5 to 3.5x1.35mm adapter off AliExpress. The combined cost should be under €20.

Ruckus APs don't need brackets - a couple of drywall screws 85mm apart will slot into the mounting holes. And a big paperclip will release the AP from the screws (the slots are locking).

 

[klui]

For folks who don't want to measure 85mm, it's the distance between mounting screws of a North America electrical/low voltage box.

 

[ms264556]

For folks who don't want to measure 85mm, it's the distance between mounting screws of a North America electrical/low voltage box.

Oh dude, how I wish. I think those are 3.281" apart, or ~83.3mm. Close, but you'll be deploying some elbow grease to get the AP onto the screws & you'll be regretting this when it's time to take the AP down again.

Older/smaller Ruckus APs (e.g. R500, R510) had one slot hole slightly elongated to accept screws 83mm apart, but not larger APs.

(Edit: here in New Zealand the standard mounting centres are 84mm. This is close enough that I used smaller screw heads and got the AP on OK).

 

[klui]

I don't have any of the newer/larger APs. My 510s and 610 are mounted from holes transferred from LV brackets. The only challenge was making the screws the right depth so they rest snugly on the surface. I found out about the spacing when I saw contractors installed them in new homes years back.

 

[creidhne]

Now that is some AWESOME info! Thank you a lot! I'll haggle around the price on R650, and if the seller won't budge, then R730 it will be. I've also heard about some workaround for vSZ licensing? Do you perhaps have any info on that?
Regarding the powering, I was mostly hung up about the power brick because the building in questino has OS2 optics and dropped ceilings throughout the building where it matters, so I'm going to be powering the APs through the normal power plug rather than poe and hiding extra stuff in the ceiling. Having power brick is an extra convenience, but not a firm requirement, there's plenty of industrial ones available around for cheap =)

 

[ms264556]

For Ruckus R650/R730 DC supplies, @clash recommended some here, and I'm currently using these 48V supplies with these 3.5x1.35 adapters. If you're in the US then I think you can get power supplies with the correct barrel off Amazon.

SmartZone is a bit of a pain for home use. You need a VM with 13GB and 100GB disk (which is absolutely pounded, so I turn on unsafe writeback caching and rely on snapshots if things stop working). And then you'll discover the extra SmartZone functionality isn't much use at home. There's a Reddit guy posting links to his Ruckus One 'reviews', if you want to see the sort of extras you get from SmartZone (since they're very similar). He seems enthused, but I fail to see why.

 

[klui]

Oh dude, how I wish. I think those are 3.281" apart, or ~83.3mm. Close, but you'll be deploying some elbow grease to get the AP onto the screws & you'll be regretting this when it's time to take the AP down again.

Close enough.

 

[creidhne]

(...) I think those are 3.281" apart, or ~83.3mm. Close, but (...)

Ruckus R710 Wireless Access Point Wall Mount by isudo

A custom wall mount bracket for a Ruckus R710 wireless access point.

www.thingiverse.com

I suppose that'll work for me just fine too =) As far as I saw, the default Ruckus bracket fits all their R models, so this should fit too. Will adjust if needed.

For Ruckus R650/R730 DC supplies, @clash recommended some here, and I'm currently using these 48V supplies with these 3.5x1.35 adapters. If you're in the US then I think you can get power supplies with the correct barrel off Amazon.

EU-PL. There's MeanWell power supplies available on local sites that have matching specs and good price, and I trust those way more than aliexpress, so no problems with that at all. Thanks for the barrel plug dimensions too, that'll come useful.

SmartZone is a bit of a pain for home use. You need a VM with 13GB and 100GB disk (which is absolutely pounded, so I turn on unsafe writeback caching and rely on snapshots if things stop working). And then you'll discover the extra SmartZone functionality isn't much use at home. There's a Reddit guy posting links to his Ruckus One 'reviews', if you want to see the sort of extras you get from SmartZone (since they're very similar). He seems enthused, but I fail to see why.

Uhhh... okay. That's a bit much indeed. I will most likely stick to unleashed, and maybe play around with smartzone just to see what's up and how it works, why not.

Anyway, having all that info, I'll be springing on two R730 that I found for around 180eur (and didn't see any cheaper, shipping and customs included) which is acceptable to me since it's already one AP less than I planned originally. Thank you for the suggestion and info!

 

[TonyArrr]

Just wanna say thanks to @ms264556 for the unleashes guide. I’ve been trying to learn enough of the cli to configure my R730 properly for a couple months, cause I missed the fact it didn’t support unleashed before I bought it and didn’t want to admit defeat

i am now a little curious how much its orientation affects coverage. I’m in a 110m square apartment, single story. Got this cause I need to overcome some 50+ other networks but don’t really want to be pumping more signal to mess with the folks above and below me than necessary.
Should I be mounting it vertically like on a wall, or should sitting it on a shelf be fine?

 

[ms264556]

Sitting on a low shelf would probably be better than mounting vertically.

My default, when I give someone a Ruckus AP, is to just sit it under the TV if that's where the ISP provided modem/router lives. I'd only bother doing something different if this wasn't central enough to provide good coverage, or if it's easy to poke a run of ethernet up into the ceiling crawlspace.

 

[ms264556]

Ruckus R710 Wireless Access Point Wall Mount by isudo

A custom wall mount bracket for a Ruckus R710 wireless access point.

www.thingiverse.com

I suppose that'll work for me just fine too =) As far as I saw, the default Ruckus bracket fits all their R models, so this should fit too. Will adjust if needed.

Yes, Ruckus have never changed the spacing. So that model should be fine. Definitely a cheaper option than the ridiculous money Ruckus want for the official 902-0120-0000 adapter.

 

[TonyArrr]

Sitting on a low shelf would probably be better than mounting vertically.

My default, when I give someone a Ruckus AP, is to just sit it under the TV if that's where the ISP provided modem/router lives. I'd only bother doing something different if this wasn't central enough to provide good coverage, or if it's easy to poke a run of ethernet up into the ceiling crawlspace.

Ah neat! My current location is the top shelf of the hutch on my desk, as it almost band in the middle of the place, and I have OM4 and cat 6 in the walls connecting all the main places. If lower is better I’ll put it on the rack shelf under the desk instead

 

[ms264556]

Ah neat! My current location is the top shelf of the hutch on my desk, as it almost band in the middle of the place, and I have OM4 and cat 6 in the walls connecting all the main places. If lower is better I’ll put it on the rack shelf under the desk instead

A high shelf is probably fine too - it'll just look a bit funny sitting with its bum in the air.

 

[TonyArrr]

A high shelf is probably fine too - it'll just look a bit funny sitting with its bum in the air.

Oh, I had originally meant what orientation should I have it in, not really concerned with how things look. There’s miscellaneous tech all over my place so it won’t stand out.

So like is it’s coverage basically a sphere, so it doesn’t matter what way it is placed, just needs to be central, or is it a more “M&M” shaped coverage area? (If that makes sense)

 

[ms264556]

Oh, I had originally meant what orientation should I have it in, not really concerned with how things look. There’s miscellaneous tech all over my place so it won’t stand out.

So like is it’s coverage basically a sphere, so it doesn’t matter what way it is placed, just needs to be central, or is it a more “M&M” shaped coverage area? (If that makes sense)

They talk about the coverage as like a deflated beach ball sitting on the AP. So hardly any signal from the bottom of the AP but plenty of horizontal reach and a fair bit of vertical reach. So if it's mounted to your ceiling then you'll get plenty of signal in all the rooms around you, but it won't waste power trying to send signal skyward or deep into the ground below your house.

So if you want to be lazy and just sit it somewhere then you want it to be lowish down sitting on the rubber feet. Or way up high with the top facing down and the feet in the air.

 

[EBRAddict]

Also, regarding Ruckus PSU and brackets...

The cheap Chinese 2.5Gb PoE switches usually supply 802.3bt from port 1. This is enough for the R730. Any newish switch should do 802.3at which will be enough for the R650. If you want DC then order a 48V power supply and a 5.5x2.5 to 3.5x1.35mm adapter off AliExpress. The combined cost should be under €20.

Ruckus APs don't need brackets - a couple of drywall screws 85mm apart will slot into the mounting holes. And a big paperclip will release the AP from the screws (the slots are locking).

Just a note on the cheap switch port 1 POE: On my Hasivo managed switch and R730 I had to change the POE PSE from auto or bt to "manual" and put in arbitrarily high wattage amount. Even though the R730 self-reported around 12W draw the Hasivo kept dropping the port randomly. Once I set it to manual it's run fine for a week now. This Hasivo has other issues with ground loops so I may have just received a bad sample.

By the way THANK YOU SO MUCH for your write ups on the R730. I tried solo, unleashed, and finally settled on ZD. I was also able to upgrade my ZD1200 by following the similar procedure.

 

[ms264556]

EU-PL. There's MeanWell power supplies available on local sites that have matching specs and good price, and I trust those way more than aliexpress, so no problems with that at all. Thanks for the barrel plug dimensions too, that'll come useful.

See if there are any Aruba 48V power adapters available locally - I just picked up an R3X86A adapter (for the Instant On AP11D & AP17) from a local retailer for ~€12 and the barrel is the right size.