Ruckus Wireless as an Unifi alternative?

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kpfleming

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Dec 28, 2021
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Pelham NY USA
Finally got my R710 installed in its new home: on the ceiling in (roughly) the center of the second-floor ceiling. House is 2000 square feet, two floors (plus unfinished basement), roughly 35' x 27' (both floors). Coverage at 5 GHz with just a single AP appears to be excellent, although I don't have one of those fancy meter devices... my laptop and phone seem happy though. I haven't decommissioned the old APs yet, they are running in 2.4 GHz mode, but as soon as the R510 I bought this weekend shows up I'll add it to the network and then power off the old APs.

Thanks for this thread, moving to Ruckus APs is having the same effect as moving to Ruckus switches did for me :)
 

kpfleming

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Dec 28, 2021
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OK, so I've run into one issue with the Ruckus APs: the 5 GHz radio just occasionally goes 'offline', and all 5 GHz clients are disconnected. The 2.4 GHz radio does not have this issue. Sometimes it won't happen for a few hours, and sometimes it will happen a few times within a 10 minute period. Each time it happens it takes 45-60 seconds for it to come back online.

I followed the Blackwire setup guide so ChannelFly was configured for automatic channel adjustment; turning off automatic channel adjustment made the problem disappear. Should I switch to 'Background Scanning' or just leave it turned off?
 

ms264556

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OK, so I've run into one issue with the Ruckus APs: the 5 GHz radio just occasionally goes 'offline', and all 5 GHz clients are disconnected. The 2.4 GHz radio does not have this issue. Sometimes it won't happen for a few hours, and sometimes it will happen a few times within a 10 minute period. Each time it happens it takes 45-60 seconds for it to come back online.

I followed the Blackwire setup guide so ChannelFly was configured for automatic channel adjustment; turning off automatic channel adjustment made the problem disappear. Should I switch to 'Background Scanning' or just leave it turned off?
Usually Channelfly settles down after a few hours, but I never enable it anymore. I actually hard code the 5GHz channels, since various IoT clients are fussy about DFS channels or channels changing too often. And background scanning often just pings your AP between a couple of channels anyway.
 

kpfleming

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Dec 28, 2021
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Pelham NY USA
Usually Channelfly settles down after a few hours, but I never enable it anymore. I actually hard code the 5GHz channels, since various IoT clients are fussy about DFS channels or channels changing too often. And background scanning often just pings your AP between a couple of channels anyway.
Thanks, I'm going to leave it disabled and also disable it on the 2.4GHz radio. We don't have many 5GHz clients in our house, just laptops and phones. All of the IoT stuff is either wired or 2.4GHz only.
 

Vesalius

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Nov 25, 2019
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agree that channelfly was too jumpy for my devices. using black wire for setup is great and I typically recommend it with at least 2 caveats:

1. with the initial COUNTRY CODE: Use Optimize for Compatibility instead of their suggested Optimize for Performance - Some Apple ios devices have issues with some 5G DFS channels, which are made available by using the Optimize for Performance setting.
2. Use background scanning instead of channelfly for 5G, which many have found to be way to aggressive/frequent with channel switching.
3. For me with 3 AP's I fixed my 2.4ghz on the middle AP to channel 1 and the two outside AP's to channel 6, which made my iot wifi devices more stable and left more room for my iot thread network to auto select a 2.4ghz thread/zigbee channel that would not be overwhelmed by the stronger Wi-Fi signals.
 
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LodeRunner

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Apr 27, 2019
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I go out of my way to just disable DFS channels on anything I setup. They're not worth the trouble I've encountered and seen other people have.
 
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edac

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Jun 1, 2022
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I used fixed 5G channels for my R710s and disabled all DFS channels. When using channelFly, the speed cannot match my unifi AC-HD and nanoHD. 5G range is short so your neighbours' signal is much weaker than yours; channelFly is not necessary.
 

ms264556

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Since I had one spare, I 'converted' a Ruckus M510 to an R510 by doing bsp set model R510, bsp commit from a root shell, so I could use it with my ZoneDirector.

I'm wondering if the M510 has a faster CPU than the R510. I'm getting >800Mbps from speed tests, and I don't remember getting anywhere close to that speed last time I tested an R510.

The M510 could be a nice purchase if you can get one cheap and don't mind having ugly metal antenna sockets sticking out the front of your AP.
 

j_h_o

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Apr 21, 2015
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I'm wondering if the M510 has a faster CPU than the R510. I'm getting >800Mbps from speed tests, and I don't remember getting anywhere close to that speed last time I tested an R510.
To clarify the faster CPU observation -- you're seeing better wireless performance? Or NAT/routing performance with this as a gateway?
 

ms264556

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So I'm not using the gateway functionality - I converted it specifically to bypass this.

I'm just measuring wireless performance. I got 820Mbps from a phone to fast.com, which is about the max I get from my ISP during business hours. Maybe someone with an R510 can double-check the client throughput they get?

I guess it would make sense that the M510 would be fast: you're forced to use it in gateway mode, which performs abysmally on the other wave 2 APs. Definitely it would help explain why the entire bottom half of the AP is an aluminium heatsink.
 
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coxhaus

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Jul 7, 2020
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Well, I've just read through this entire thread, and it's got me interested in an upgrade to our home's WiFi infrastructure. I switched off of Ubiquiti some time ago, and currently have four CBW APs (three 240ACs in the house, a 140AC in the garage). We don't have a large number of WiFi devices (2 mobile phones, four laptops, a few IoT-like things), as I've tried hard to use wired connections everywhere I could.

Our home is wood-framed (built in 1920) and two living levels plus attic and unfinished basement (and there are WiFi devices in the basement). It's 1000 sq ft per level, relatively square floors, and there are some plaster-and-lath walls although most walls are drywall. There is a brick chimney nearly in the center of the house (unfortunately) which extends from the basement floor to the bottom side of the second floor.

Right now I've got an AP in the center of the attic ceiling to provide coverage to the second floor, and two APs on the first floor ceiling (midway between the center and corner of the house, on diagonally opposite corners) to provide coverage to the first floor and basement.

The reason I'm thinking of making a change is that we're heavily dependent on WiFi calling in this house; our phones use the T-Mobile network, but due to topography issues T-Mobile LTE/5G coverage at our house is weak on its best day, and unusable on most days. Most of our WiFi calls are OK, but frequently we have one-way-audio issues or other weirdness that we don't experience wen using WiFi calling in other locations. I'm fairly certain this not the fault of the router or uplink (EdgeRouter 4 connected to FIOS ONT via Gigabit Ethernet), but could be wrong :)

I'm trying to figure out what a decent combination of Ruckus APs would be here; I could easily put an R710 in the attic and that would probably cover most of the house, except for the shadows created by the chimney underneath it. I could also easily replace the first floor APs in their current locations, although given the Ruckus APs' better coverage that seems like overkill.

I'm planning on using Unleashed to manage them, which is nearly the same situation as the CBWs, and will probably get an R510 for the garage.

Finally, while we're not in an apartment, we are surrounded by houses of similar size and so there is a lot of WiFi interference; every house has 2-4 SSIDs being broadcast on both bands.

I'm open to any suggestions as to how to improve the situation here. Thanks in advance for your guidance (this forum was immensely useful in my wired network upgrade, which resulted in a 4-unit stack of ICX 7150-C12Ps replacing EdgeSwitches, and which are working fabulously).
T-Mobile has a local box you plug into a switch for extended cell coverage for a deposit which you get back after returning their box. I don't remember the name as it has been a few years since I installed one. I set one up in a small real estate office.

Do you have your CBW240AC APs setup with single point setup? I use Cisco small business APs and Wi-Fi calling works well using AT&T and iPhones.
 

kpfleming

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Dec 28, 2021
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Pelham NY USA
T-Mobile has a local box you plug into a switch for extended cell coverage for a deposit which you get back after returning their box. I don't remember the name as it has been a few years since I installed one. I set one up in a small real estate office.

Do you have your CBW240AC APs setup with single point setup? I use Cisco small business APs and Wi-Fi calling works well using AT&T and iPhones.
The last time I checked that T-Mobile femtocell device was only available to T-Mobile customers, and while our phones use the T-Mobile network we aren't T-Mobile customers.

I'm not sure what 'single point setup' is, but it's no longer relevant as I've removed the CBW APs and installed a single R710 and our WiFi in the house has never been better plus WiFi calling is rock-solid now. I'll be selling my CBW gear soon.
 

coxhaus

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Jul 7, 2020
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The last time I checked that T-Mobile femtocell device was only available to T-Mobile customers, and while our phones use the T-Mobile network we aren't T-Mobile customers.

I'm not sure what 'single point setup' is, but it's no longer relevant as I've removed the CBW APs and installed a single R710 and our WiFi in the house has never been better plus WiFi calling is rock-solid now. I'll be selling my CBW gear soon.
I was wondering why you needed so many Cisco APs. I use 2 in a 3300 square foot long home. If I want 5 GHz everywhere I need 3.
 

kpfleming

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Dec 28, 2021
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Pelham NY USA
I originally had one 240AC and didn't have good coverage around the house, even with it centrally located (approximately the same location as the R710 but about five feet higher). I ended up with two more on the first floor to provide decent coverage, and one in the garage (where I have an R510 now).
 

hmw

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Apr 29, 2019
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I just posted this to reddit, so maybe too late, but you might want to try and buy a used R750 or R850 before the prices go even higher, if you're running a biggish unleashed setup or a ZD with newish APs:-
With new in box prices for the R750 ranging from $1300 ~ $1600 and with second hand prices being north of $1000 - I don't think many folks are buying loads of R750s any time soon.
 
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ms264556

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With new in box prices for the R750 ranging from $1300 ~ $1600 and with second hand prices being north of $1000 - I don't think many folks are buying loads of R750s any time soon.
Surely you're not wrong!

Makes much more financial sense though when you compare it to the price of a ZoneDirector or Sz144.
 

Rand__

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You can get ZD1200's quite cheaply ($100-200) every now and then?
I assume the included 5AP license should cover most of us here... and o/c sometimes they are available with extra licenses
 

ms264556

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You can get ZD1200's quite cheaply ($100-200) every now and then?
I assume the included 5AP license should cover most of us here... and o/c sometimes they are available with extra licenses
Sure, used ZD1200 are <$200 most places in the world if you can wait. And you can always grab one off me for around $170 if you can't wait.
(And I give anyone 150 AP licenses here: Add AP Licenses and Upgrade Entitlement to a ZoneDirector 1100/1200/3000).

But there seem to be plenty of people on here buying Ruckus equipment new, or buying support contracts, so I guessed not everyone else is a cheapskate like me.
 
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