Ruckus Wireless as an Unifi alternative?

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Vesalius

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Nov 25, 2019
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Couple of links on Ruckus Wi-Fi optimization in case they may help someone now or in the future:
Ruckus 101 | Setup Instructions + Tips & Tricks - Blackwire
OPTIMIZE RUCKUS CONFIGURATION (part 1) - The Network Stack
OPTIMIZE RUCKUS CONFIGURATION (part 2) - The Network Stack

I personally always add the 2.4GHz set up caveats if you plan to use Zigbee/Thread/BLE smart-home devices:

  1. only use Channels 1 and 6, (drop 11) and force 20MHz mode
  2. If you have closely placed AP's for you home size turn off the 2.4ghz radio on every other one. I have 3 and turn it off on the middle AP and this made a big improvement in my 2.4ghz IoT network robustness.
  3. ADVANCED WI-FI LESSONS - ZigBee and Wi-Fi Coexistence ( FYI, Zigbee and Thread use the same channels)
  4. How to manage coexistence between multiple 2.4 GHz wireless protocols?
 
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klui

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Feb 3, 2019
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That first link was gold!

Finally something that describes how to set up WiFi calling! Why isn't that in their regular documents? Even if DNS entries change, they should at least reference some sort of KB. The WiFi Optimization describing multicast, DTIM, 5 Ghz ChannelFly, remote scanning frequency settings are quite informative, too.

The one thing about 200.11 that piqued my interest was web UI access to CLI commands. But it's nowhere to be found. Has anyone who installed 200.11 gotten that to work? My APs are R510 and R610, with the former as the master. I posted a question on their support site but no answers yet. https://forums.ruckuswireless.com/topics/unleashed/6114340ff80e3f168392e913
If you have closely placed AP's for you home size turn off the 2.4ghz radio on every other one. I have 3 and turn it off on the middle AP and this made a big improvement in my 2.4ghz IoT network robustness.
While I only have 2 APs, I've read that with 3 or more APs, the master won't perform any wireless duties.
 

Vesalius

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Nov 25, 2019
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While I only have 2 APs, I've read that with 3 or more APs, the master won't perform any wireless duties.
That is a webgui selectable option, do not believe it is default, for any deployment with 3 or more AP. I choose to let the middle AP, which happens to be the master, broadcast only the 5GHz network.

I have that option under the system/system info/preferred master webgui section.
 
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fearless40

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Nov 4, 2021
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I have 2 R750 (unleashed) they have the built in Zigbee radio and low energy Bluetooth radios. Is there any way to make use of the hardware with Zigbee2Mqqt or homeassistant? I know the official way is with a SmartZone 1200 and purchasing the IOT license (and its price is not posted which indicates more expensive then necessary).
Thanks!
 
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LodeRunner

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Apr 27, 2019
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I have 2 R750 (unleashed) they have the built in Zigbee radio and low energy Bluetooth radios. Is there any way to make use of the hardware with Zigbee2Mqqt or homeassistant? I know the official way is with a SmartZone 1200 and purchasing the IOT license (and its price is not posted which indicates more expensive then necessary).
Thanks!
They're making this more obnoxious than it needs to be to get a straight "here's what you need to make this work."

So you have to get the IoT controller, license the controller, make sure the SZ has AP licenses, and then get and load the separate IoT capacity license to the device. I think?

This video might help elucidate? RUCKUS IoT: IoT Controller License Installation Overview - YouTube
 
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fearless40

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Nov 4, 2021
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Thanks for the heads up! I was hoping for some other ways of accessing the radios.... you need 3 lisceces to run iot, sz or vsz (about 995), iot ( about 995) and ruckus rtu (? Cost). That's for 1 ap. The sz 1200 can be bought for around 200 on eBay with 5 licenses but the rest I think is pretty expensive no matter what. Looks like a cheap zigbee hub for 30 dollars is a better fit! There goes my hope of fully using the r750 iot hardware!
 

unmesh

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Apr 17, 2017
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Does Unleashed work even if the APs are different, for example R600 and R700? I have a R600 and I can get a R700 for a good price.

Thanks
 

Vesalius

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Nov 25, 2019
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Does Unleashed work even if the APs are different, for example R600 and R700? I have a R600 and I can get a R700 for a good price.

Thanks
With some caveats yes, as long as the AP’s can all be on the same version of unleashed. I have an r650 and 2 r710’s working together with unleashed.
 

unmesh

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With some caveats yes, as long as the AP’s can all be on the same version of unleashed. I have an r650 and 2 r710’s working together with unleashed.
I did some research and the R700 is not supported on Unleashed!
 

ms264556

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Sep 13, 2021
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New Zealand
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I did some research and the R700 is not supported on Unleashed!
As you've discovered R700s are a good price because they never got Unleashed & they lost ZoneDirector support quite early.

They're a nice AP though, slightly better than the R600 (but much larger).

If the price is MUCH lower than the R600 price (e.g. free) then it might be cost effective to grab a ZoneDirector and run your R600s and R700s off this.

What cheap R700s are great for is gifting to friends/family who are complaining about their WiFi at home. Install & setup the R700 with solo firmware, plug into their existing router & turn off its WiFi.
 

ms264556

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unmesh

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I think I will wait for a reasonably priced (second) R600 since I'd like to try it in wireless backhaul mode for a friend's application before using it with wired backhaul for myself.

Thanks
 

TXAG26

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What is going on with Ruckus R610 pricing? I was picking these up all day long about a year ago at $150-$180 each, now most sellers on eBay are nearly +$400 each! Any ideas?
 

ms264556

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Sep 13, 2021
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I guess the extreme shortage of new stock is spilling over into the used market.

If it's for your own use (rather than reselling) then I have a few new-looking R610s spare if you want to contact me privately.

Used prices are going up here in NZ too, but I could still afford to send my R610s to USA (10 day shipping) & buy replacements for US$150/ea shipped.
 
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unmesh

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Apr 17, 2017
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Got my second R600 up and running and decided to do some testing of roaming to compare with my Omada APs. It works fine for Windows laptops but I've noticed that our iPhones often lose WiFi connectivity completely and use the cellular network when on the Ruckus defined WLANs

Is there a remedy? I'm running 200.7.10.202.127

Thanks
 

klui

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Feb 3, 2019
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I've not run the 200.7 branch for a while. Does it have WPA2/3 mixed mode encryption in WLAN settings? If it does try turning it off. The current 200.11 inherited this problem from 200.10.