R600 Unleashed - Functionality Differences?

Question

Hi All -

New to the Ruckus brand entirely and am curious what functionality (if any) will be lost using a controller less platform such as the R600 unleashed.  Mainly I am concerned about roaming functionality over multiple APs and if that functionality is present in the unleashed line or if a controller (Zone Director?) must be present.

In addition, I am curious how the R600 stacks up against the newer Ubiquiti lineup (UAP-AC-PRO) before I finalize my purchase decision.

Thanks for any comments

nat_nat · Answer

As we at Ruckus expected that there are going to be questions about the differences between Unleashed and ZD (WLAN controller) we documented it very clearly at http://docs.ruckuswireless.com/unleashed/200.4/index.html which includes the common features between both Unleashed & ZD, the differences between them, and also Unleashed specific features.

Unleashed Limitations and Deviations from ZoneDirector: http://docs.ruckuswireless.com/unleashed/200.4/index.html#c-UnleashedLimitationsAndDeviations.html

Roaming is fully supported on Unleashed from the day-1 of Unleashed which includes 802.11r, 802.11k, SmartRoam+ (part of 802.11v) and other radio control features like Client Load Balancing, Band Balancing, Background scanning, Self-Healting, etc

unknown · Answer

Sorry to reply to such an old thread, but I have had both devices "side by side" in the same environment and can say for my experience, there is simply no comparison. The ruckus devices, 5 in an unleashed deployment, are rock solid with great performance; handoff is reasonably seamless (there's a end user device component here, so not entirely up to the infrastructure). The ub devices were flaky and quirky, still far better than the sit on the table home router, but even with a small user base, I wouldn't deploy the ub in an environment where bandwidth will be taxed. Standing in the same place with different WAPs in the same mount in the ceiling, my single antenna AC phone would get 180-200Mbps on the Ruckus and 40-50 Mbps with the UB AC. Not to mention the nearly full enterprise management features that the Ruckus adds. There's certainly a price difference here, so you're paying for the better device, but in the long run, I'm very happy to have switched to Ruckus and would make the same decision again.

john_d · Answer

I'd personally recommend steering clear of the Ubiquiti lineup unless you have a very small density type deployment (for example, low-budget hotel where you have lots AP's to cover a wide space but only 1 or 2 people per room).

Everything that I've tried that uses Broadcom AC chipsets with chip-based beamforming seems to do great for 1 client per AP or a few clients per AP (sometimes even faster than midrange Ruckus), but quickly breaks down once you start adding even just 10 clients, or worse, introduce interference or start trying longer distances. They all look fantastic on paper though.

You should let Ruckus comment on their roadmap. My observation is that IPv6 bridging seems to have worked when I had my R600 set up for Unleashed. And it's also worth noting, your investment isn't really wasted -- the R600 Unleashed can be converted to Standalone or ZD-managed via firmware updates, though Ruckus officially doesn't really recommend that because any warranty-replaced units will ship as Unleashed. But if you are knowledgeable and managing a small-ish installation, you can probably deal with flashing replacement units back to whatever variant you wish.

But overall, I would say, there's virtually no contest between the R600 and Ubiquiti's lineup.