How to Choose a WiFi Vendor

WiFi has become an essential component of both modern business environments and personal spaces, underpinning operations, communications, and daily activities. Its presence makes it easy to overlook, reducing it to a utility as dull as electricity or water—yet, when it fails, its critical importance swiftly comes into focus.

In a saturated market, choosing a WiFi vendor is complicated by the array of options, each shrouded in marketing buzzwords and sleek dashboards. This leaves consumers facing the challenge of determining genuine quality and suitability from mere aesthetic appeal, making the selection process not just about connectivity, but about ensuring the seamless and reliable integration of technology into our lives.

The Abundance of Choice in WiFi Solutions

When it comes to picking a WiFi solution, having so many options can actually make things harder. Imagine walking into a store wanting to buy a simple thing like cereal, but finding hundreds of types instead. Suddenly, what should be an easy choice feels overwhelming. That's what happens with WiFi solutions. There are so many vendors and products shouting for attention with their flashy ads and promises of the best performance that it's tough to know what's really best for you.

The key here is to look past all those fancy marketing materials and focus on what really matters. You need reliable WiFi, that won't give you headaches with constant problems, and comes with good support when you need help. It also has to fit what you specifically need, whether that's covering a large area without losing signal, handling lots of devices at once, or just giving you a fast connection for streaming or gaming. Remember, the best choice isn't always the one with the most bells and whistles; it's the one that does exactly what you need it to do.

Before You Choose A New WiFi Vendor: Carry Out a WiFi Survey!

Before diving into the sea of WiFi vendors, it's crucial to take a step back and start with a WiFi survey. Think of it like mapping out the terrain before setting up camp. A WiFi survey helps you understand the unique needs and hurdles of your environment. This could mean figuring out where the signal weak spots are in a large office, or how many devices will be connecting at home.

Doing a WiFi survey is like having a blueprint. It shows you what you need right now and what you might need as things change or grow. With this blueprint, you can make a smarter choice when picking a WiFi vendor because you'll know exactly what you're looking for. It's not just about getting the fastest speed or the latest model. It's about finding a solution that fits your space, your needs, and your future plans. This step sets the stage for a decision that's informed, thoughtful, and tailored to you.

Top Tips for Choosing a WiFi Vendor

When choosing a WiFi vendor, it’s like picking a teammate for a long journey—you need reliability, support, and a good fit for your needs. Here’s what to keep an eye on:

By keeping these considerations in mind, you’ll be better equipped to choose a WiFi vendor that not only meets your needs today but also supports your growth and changes in the future.

Walking, Talking Red Flags

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When selecting a WiFi vendor, it's wise to tread carefully and keep an eye out for red flags that might suggest a vendor isn't the right fit for you. There are general cautionary tales that can help guide your decision-making process, and these stories often revolve around issues such as poor customer support, unreliable product performance, or inadequate security measures.

Vendors with a history of products that frequently disconnect or fail to deliver the promised speeds should be avoided for professional deployments. Such reliability issues can disrupt your daily operations and lead to frustration. Similarly, vendors with lackluster customer support can leave you stranded when you most need assistance, turning minor hiccups into major obstacles.

Security is another critical area. With cyber threats constantly evolving, a vendor that fails to offer robust security features or timely updates can expose your network to unnecessary risks. You should also keep an eye out for patterns in user feedback, independent reviews, and industry analyses that might indicate systemic problems with a vendor's offerings.

Due diligence is key to choosing the right WiFi vendor for your organisation, so researching and understanding the common pitfalls associated with certain vendors can save you from future headaches. Choosing a WiFi vendor is a significant decision that impacts not just your immediate connectivity needs but also your long-term security and operational efficiency, so opting for a vendor known for reliability, strong support, and proactive security measures can help ensure a smooth and secure WiFi experience.

Our Top WiFi Vendors

As WiFi Specialists since 2007, we've spent a long time building relationships with a whole host of networking vendors and partners. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, there's a few vendors that we typically recommend to organisations looking to roll out new WiFi deployments or upgrades. So then, in no particular order, here's some of the top names in WiFi you may want to consider:

RUCKUS Networks

wifi-vendor-ruckus

Cambium Networks

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Cisco Meraki

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Finding The Right Fit

Finding the perfect WiFi solution is a bit like choosing the right pair of shoes—it all comes down to fit. What serves one organisation brilliantly might fall short for another. The diversity in operational scales, spatial layouts, and specific tech requirements means there's no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to selecting a WiFi vendor.

It's important to recognise that the ideal choice is heavily influenced by the unique needs and circumstances of your environment. Factors such as the size of the area that needs coverage, the number and type of devices connecting, and specific application requirements (like high-speed data transfer for video conferencing) play critical roles in determining the best fit.

Given the complexity and the stakes involved, seeking out personalised guidance can make all the difference. Partnering with WiFi Specialists or consultants (like us!) who have the expertise and experience to navigate the myriad options can be a game-changer. These professionals can offer tailored advice that takes into account your current situation as well as future growth, helping you to make an informed decision that aligns with both your immediate needs and long-term objectives.

Moreover, a WiFi Specialist can assist not just in the selection process but also in the seamless implementation and ongoing optimisation of your WiFi infrastructure. This support ensures that your network is not only robust and reliable from the start but also adaptable to evolving technological landscapes and business needs.

In essence, while the quest for the ideal WiFi vendor might seem daunting, remembering that the best choice is unique to your situation and seeking expert advice can pave the way to a solution that truly fits your needs. This approach not only optimises your current operations but also positions you for future success and scalability.

Ruckus Cloud - Our Review

An overview of Ruckus Cloud, by Mark Bartley - CTO

With the exception of holiday makers, everybody loves a cloud. It is impossible to ignore the consistent march towards cloud based infrastructure across the IT industry and within WiFi vendors in particular. Ruckus resisted the allure of Cloud management for many years but in 2016 they decided to get in on the action. Since then, the solution has evolved and developed and I want to give you an insight into what’s hot and what’s not about it currently.

First off - it’s simple to set up.  I’ve configured Cloud based solutions from Aruba through to Zyxel and can honestly say the initial setup up of the Ruckus Cloud is one of, if not, the easiest. Click emailed activation link, enter venue details, setup SSID, enter serial number to add an AP - job done! On the subject of simplicity, the user interface is one of the more intuitive and straightforward. As you can see from the screen shot below, rather than a plethora of menu options with sub menus, hiding more menus, it’s been kept clean and easy. You want to see details of a Network, click Networks and you get details for the Network; Patronising to explain it I know, but it’s amazing how many vendors have complicated this simple concept.

Ruckus Cloud

Ruckus have been smart here in that all of these menu items interlink. You can click on venues, see the AP’s that are within the venue and drill down into the AP specific config, a simple but clever move compared to some vendors UI’s where you endlessly have to click between different menu sections to actually get to the point- ideal for speeding up tasks and navigation.

Whilst it’s great to have a simple UI but i’m not a simple Guy- I want to be able to manage an enterprise level network with a lot of customisation to suit my needs.  The good news is, the vast bulk of authentication options you’re ever likely to need, are available:

Ruckus Cloud - Dashboard

In a small but neat touch, they’ve included the actual process for each authentication method in the graphic that appears when you select the option you prefer

Ruckus Cloud - Auth

I’m going to gloss over most of these methods as they are industry standard, though special mentions to Dynamic Pre-Shared Key (DPSK) which is vastly underused for a simple but effective auth method, and the captive portal options;

Ruckus Cloud - Portal

As you can see, you’ve got pretty much all bases covered here from the simple click through to WISPr. To be clear, I’m not advocating that you see the “Self Sign In” option and go  “Great, no need for a data capture overlay, I’ll get all the user data I want for marketing from this” as put simply, it’s not that. Whilst allowing self registration (to avoid the minefield of GDPR compliance) it does not act as a CRM or capture visitor data. I’m a big fan of Host Approval, a quick and easy way of allowing your internal users to self service guests access reducing IT teams time spent on guest management, just be aware though anyone on your domain can approve guest requests if you go down this route.

Events, as you’d expect, gives you a comprehensive  overview of what's been happening, I’m yet to get to the bottom of how far back the log will go but over 12,000 events at least, to give an indication on a 2 AP test network that’s tweaked constantly, the logs go back 3 months. Thankfully it’s fully searchable & can be filtered so you don’t need to scroll back through hundreds of lines to find what you are after.

Analytics are pretty good for an included piece. It’s never going to be as granular as a designated network analytics solution but it serves a purpose and  provides some suitably pretty graphics to wave at interested (or disinterested!) colleagues, as well as being handy for picking up that your BYOD network is purely being used for YouTube & Facebook purposes...

So far so glowing, right? Panic not - there is some brutal honesty ahead. Ruckus Cloud is not as feature-rich or as suitable for complex environments as their SmartOS management platform.  

The troubleshooting functionality on the SmartOS (virtual & physical SmartZones) is far superior, particularly when identifying the root cause of niggly RADIUS issues.  Also, the level of RF information provided from the Cloud platform is to be frank limited -to the extent of practically non-existent. Cloud does not support dynamic VLAN allocation, or  white listing/black listing of IP and MAC addresses. In short whilst it is good, it’s not at the same level as the SmartOS offering. Ultimately these functions are quite niche and many of you reading this would say ”So what, I don’t need these features?” in which case Ruckus cloud might well be the one for you.  

Unlike some vendors, who I won’t publicly shame (they know who they are…) Ruckus have always taken a sensible approach to AP’s and swapping between management platforms, which means you can keep the same AP’s but switch between ZoneDirector, Unleashed, SmartOS and Cloud. This level of flexibility is ideal if your needs are evolving as your organisation changes and the demands on the network increase.

The Ruckus Cloud App deserves a mention. Available on both IOS and Android, it gives an almost full remote management and monitoring experience from your smartphone. One function that is well worth using, especially when rolling out a lot of AP’s, is the ability to scan AP’s using your devices camera to onboard them- a lot quicker than typing out 12 digit serial numbers repeatedly!

Sometimes the ongoing management, troubleshooting and configuration of your WiFi can be a bridge too far when juggling a plethora of plates and trying to provide more with less resource. As such we offer a fully managed Ruckus Cloud service where we monitor, maintain and manage the network for you on a pay monthly basis, feel Feel free to get in touch to find out more.

If you’ve read this far, then hopefully you’ve found this blog useful  Rather than just taking my word for it though - if you’d like to get hands on with Ruckus Cloud, and get a Ruckus AP for free, then follow this link and we can get the ball rolling with  your free Ruckus trial.

We’ve worked with some incredible customers deploying Ruckus technology - have a read here

First UK Partner to achieve Ruckus Ready Cloud Specialist Certification

Haptic Networks: First UK Partner to achieve Ruckus Ready Cloud Specialist Certification

Ruck cloud specialist

Today we received confirmation that Haptic Networks are the first UK Partner to achieve Ruckus Ready Cloud Specialist Certification. As Elite partners of Ruckus for over a decade, Haptic Networks have invested heavily in training and certification for our team.

To be the first UK Partner to achieve Ruckus Ready Cloud Specialist Certification in the UK is a huge achievement and one we’re incredibly proud of. In order to obtain this status our in house technical and sales teams have been busy passing the following qualified courses:

2 x ICX Implementers

2 x ICX Wired SE Pre-Sales

2 x WiSE Certified Engineers

2 x Cloudpath Certified Engineers

2 x Ruckus Cloud WiFi Certified

In addition to this we have also completed the following courses and now offer our customers access to consultants with the following certifications:

1 x CWS (Certified Wi-Fi Specialist)

1 x CWT (Certified Wi-Fi Technician)

2 x CWNA (Certified Wi-Fi Network Administrator)

As we head into 2019 we’re excited to continue our work as Ruckus Elite partners as well as our projects in WiFi and Networking in general.

Here’s more about the work we do 

Ruckus ICX Switches, meet the new family member

To bring the best out of your organisation, bring the best out of your network

Ruckus ICX Switches are transforming network performance in record time with minimal effort. With the ability to replace your entire wired and wireless infrastructure but manage everything centrally. As of time of this release, there is a very aggressive pricing promotion around opportunities involving both ICX switches and Ruckus Wireless hardware.

Ruckus innovates across wired technologies, as well as wireless, to enable awesome customer experiences. The Ruckus ICX Family of fixed form-factor switches work together to simplify network set-up and management, enhance security, minimises troubleshooting and make upgrades easy. ICX low-latency, non-blocking architecture ensures excellent throughput for the most demanding applications.

ICX switches work seamlessly with Ruckus Wi-Fi access points and Ruckus SmartZone network controllers to deliver the most performant and cost effective unified wired & wireless access solutions on the market today.

Whether you're deploying a standalone switch, a stack, or a fabric network, you’ll reap the benefits of Ruckus performance, flexibility and investment protection. You can read more about the Ruckus Wireless range on our dedicated microsite by clicking this link.

Find out how Ruckus ICX switches can make a difference to your network now, contact us to view the TCO calculator to see how Ruckus can reduce network acquisition, power, cooling and support costs

Splendour Festival uses Haptic WiFi Solution

We are incredibly proud to announce that the annual Splendour Festival held in Nottingham will be utilising Haptic Networks' WiFi solution.

Playing host to top names such as Jess Glynne, Stiff Little Fingers, UB40, The Fratellis and Turin Brakes the festival is recognised as the city’s biggest summer day out and shortlisted in the final three for Best Festival in the national Live Music Business awards.

DHP Family and Nottingham City Council are keen to replicate the success of last year which saw 20,000 festival goers sprawled across Wollaton Park. With lots happening all over the park aside from the three music stages, including comedy in the courtyard, a kids’ area and entertainers out and about in the crowd, the festival is a fantastic day out for all the family.

George Akins, owner, DHP Family, said: “We’re delighted to bring bands to Splendour that have contributed so much to the musical heritage in this country. Once again, we’re confident that our mix of music legends along with some of the hottest artists of the moment will make it a winning day out for everyone, whatever their age or musical taste.”

Councillor Dave Trimble, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture at Nottingham City Council, said: “We’re pleased to announce a great line-up for Splendour Festival that I think Nottingham people will love. Splendour really is the highlight of the summer and with acts like Jess Glynne, The Human League, UB40 and The Darkness, tickets are sure to sell fast. Splendour truly offers something for all tastes in music, and with the comedy stage and kids’ area it’s a really fun family day out.”

Haptic have provided a full outdoor Ruckus WiFi solution to enable festival-goers the solid, reliable, family friendly WiFi connection they need to enhance their (hopefully sunny!) day out.

 For more information on Haptic WiFi please click here

Ruckus Acquires Cloudpath Networks

Ruckus have announced that they have acquired Cloudpath Networks, a privately held company that provides a leading easy-to-use, secure, Wi-Fi onboarding solution for schools and universities. Cloudpath pioneered Wi-Fi onboarding self-service in 2006 and is a leader in certificate-based Wi-Fi security with over 300 deployments, from the largest universities to smaller primary and secondary schools.

Ruckus and Haptic Networks are very excited to integrate Cloudpath into our Wi-Fi portfolio for education. Schools need to be able to easily and securely onboard a wide range of different devices and users, and Cloudpath is a comprehensive, easy to use platform that enables schools to readily design and implement custom, self-service workflows that reduce the impact on IT support resources. Furthermore, Cloudpath includes industry-first support for Chromebook devices, the fastest-growing in-classroom platforms.

With the addition of Cloudpath, Northamptonshire WiFi specialists Haptic Networks continue to strengthen our portfolio and provide you with solutions to address emerging and critical market requirements.  Cloudpath will be available from November 2, 2015.

Read the full press release here

If you'd like to find out more about the ruckus wireless range of products click here to view our dedicated microsite 

 

Juniper and Ruckus Wireless forge partnership

Juniper Networks and Ruckus Wireless unveiled a new alliance this week.

Ruckus and Juniper will work together to deliver a complete wired and wireless solution, with the overall aim of increasing network flexibility and reducing total cost of ownership for customers.

As global technology leaders with carrier grade wired and wireless networking respectively, they share a common DNA of delivering superior performance and scalability
to the most demanding customers on the planet by leveraging innovations in software and open-based standards. And now, together they are uniquely positioned to deliver even higher levels of performance and stronger ROI.

The new partnership is based on open standards-based solutions and products from both companies built on Juniper's Open Converged Framework for the enterprise network, with the alliance targeting solutions for the commerce and educational markets.

With the increased volume and sophistication of networking needs, IT security organizations are under enormous pressure to keep
their network simple, easy to scale and manage, while still delivering the best quality of experience to their users. Juniper Networks
and Ruckus Wireless share the same philosophy and goal: to make the network simple for IT managers. Together, Juniper and
Ruckus make it easy to deploy, scale, and manage both the wired and the wireless networks as one single infrastructure.
As long standing partners of both Ruckus Wireless and Juniper, we at Haptic are incredbily excited about the advancements that will materialise from this new development.

For more information on Ruckus wireless click here to view our dedicated microsite 

Ruckus release SPoT - Location-based services (LBS) using Wireless networks

Location Based Services are an invaluable tool in retail, entertainment and any other sector where large numbers of people are likely to move around, through or near a wireless network; effectively these systems use the WiFi probe requests of mobile devices to accurately locate a user position within an area. So why is this important?

If you can imagine running a department store, you’ll already have envisaged a few challenges:

-Ensuring appropriate staffing levels in the right place at the right time- even amongst us Brits (world champions of the art) no one actually likes queuing.

-Preventing bottlenecks around popular products/areas - you have the latest trend-topping toy in stock but customers are leaving the store and heading to a competitor because they’ve wanted to avoid the scrum at the toy section.

-You have high margin but competitively priced stock sitting unsold- wouldn’t it be great to know the optimum place to put it to ensure maximum visibility to clients?

-Analysing when people are coming to the store and how long are they staying for?

-Identifying which customers are returning- if so how frequently?

So how can you gather this information without employing a team of headcounters with photographic memories or using costly and often inefficient facial recognition linked into CCTV? (queue Daily Mail headlines about “Big Brother Shop knows your face!”) Simple answer - ask us about SPoT.

Northamptonshire Wireless specialists Haptic are offering our clients a free trial of the SPoT (Smart Positioning Technology) from Ruckus Wireless.
The solution comprises a location engine to identify a user's exact location; an analytics dashboard effectively working to simplify the data and an engagement API providing the ability to send users targeted messages based on their location.

The benefits of this solution are not restricted to Retail, the technology can add vast benefits to any organisation operating in Healthcare; Hospitality; Transportation; Education; Warehousing; Distribution to name but a few.

For more info click here to contact us

Haptic - Wireless specialists granted Ruckus 'Alpha Dog' Status

WiFi specialists Haptic and Ruckus Wireless have enjoyed a long and successful partnership spanning over 5 years. With hundreds of satisfied customers across the UK, Europe and UAE we continue to deploy solid reliable wireless networks using the Ruckus solution.

The existing partner program offers three echelons, Big Dog, Top Dog and Alpha Dog. Haptic have been awarded Alpha Dog status as we have proven to be leaders in the implementation of Ruckus solutions. We remain committed to providing best in class sales and technical staff and resources, having taken advantage of the training and WiSe certification offered by Ruckus.

With the new developments of SPoT and SAMs as well as new indoor/outdoor access points we look forward to continuing this excellent partnership with one of the most important names in Wi-Fi.

If you'd like to find out more about the Ruckus Wireless product range, click here to browse our dedicated microsite