Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access Points vs. SonicWall SonicWave Series

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access Points
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Aruba Networks offers wireless LAN (WLAN) solutions via its variety of wireless access points.N/A
SonicWave Series
Score 6.7 out of 10
N/A
SonicWall offers the SonicWave series of WiFi access points. The SonicWave is available in the SonicWave 200 and SonicWave 400 series.N/A
Pricing
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access PointsSonicWall SonicWave Series
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access PointsSonicWave Series
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access PointsSonicWall SonicWave Series
Considered Both Products
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access Points

No answer on this topic

SonicWave Series
Chose SonicWall SonicWave Series
We evaluated Aruba and then evaluated SonicWall. SonicWall had fewer features, but it was cost-effective and suitable for our budget. Aruba, on other hand, was a dedicated WiFi solution and it was way costlier than SonicWall firewall and access point together, hence we selected …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access PointsSonicWall SonicWave Series
Small Businesses
Ubiquiti WLAN
Ubiquiti WLAN
Score 9.3 out of 10
Ubiquiti WLAN
Ubiquiti WLAN
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access PointsSonicWall SonicWave Series
Likelihood to Recommend
9.8
(14 ratings)
6.2
(5 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access PointsSonicWall SonicWave Series
Likelihood to Recommend
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
It is possible that we have a bad luck with the deployment. However, It is capable to perform enterprise-level security to fit some of the organization's standards. With Airwave and other tools, it's easy to manage and administrate your wireless environment. Make aware of the IPsec tunnel from each user to the controller if you are using Clearpass for NAC. If you have a remote office with local resources, you will need controller or IAP to route traffic locally. If you have many remote offices, you will need to deploy controllers or IAP in each office, which lead to additional cost and management.
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SonicWall
Helps ensure a better user experience by designing a wireless network optimized for your environment. The wireless network's safety and satisfaction are improved for the company. Even more important is the need to protect the information that travels over it and that is where SonicWALL wireless network security, in a nutshell, provides a solution with true excellence.
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Pros
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • They offer both a controller-based and controller-less option. This allows customers of all sizes to deploy a wireless network without the upfront cost of controller hardware. A controller can be added later.
  • Aruba also offers Airwave which is a single management point for all AP swarms in the environment. It offers many reporting features as well as visual RF maps displaying heatmaps of the AP signals and client positioning.
  • The Aruba Access Point we have (224s and 225s) also offer both PoE and external power supplies for those smaller deployments that may not have PoE capable switches.
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SonicWall
  • The problem we are addressing with SonicWall SonicWave Series is security over our network. We handle information and have to keep everything confidential. So we use SonicWall SonicWave Series to keep our network safe from intrusion and anybody who may want to try to get into our system to do harm
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Cons
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • We have had a bunch of these stop working after a power outages. We are guessing a surge or something caused them to stop working.
  • Some of the documentation is outdated. It seems they like to make changes to how things work and it usually mean less access and insight into the devices you manage.
  • The auto signal strength feature could use a little work. It seems like even when we turn it down all the way it tries ot increases the signal strength.
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SonicWall
  • Detailed setup instructions
  • Auto Setup Feature for mesh
  • Provide filters without a yearly subscription
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Usability
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Aruba Networks Wireless LAN is very intuitive to use. After the initial learning curve for the Aruba OS platform, it is straightforward. Day-to-day tasks, such as deploying an access point with a configuration, are very straightforward. Standard incremental system upgrades are also very intuitive. If you have any past experience with Aruba network switching or Cisco switching, the command structure is relatively similar.
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SonicWall
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
It is a reliable and complete solution for providing wireless network to users. I had no technical problems during those years. The Aruba controller and access points have always worked very well and we have greatly improved the relationship with customers and we now have absolute control over the wireless network traffic. It has quality assurance and support with efficient service as well.
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SonicWall
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Cisco Aironet did not even compare to Aruba, Aruba was so far advanced from Cisco back when we used them. Aruba solved several business problems all in one ecosystem, all Cisco did was acted as somewhat intelligent Access Points. Aruba enabled us to leverage VoIP, use APs as VPN endpoints/devices, manage individual devices as assets, etc.
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SonicWall
We evaluated Aruba and then evaluated SonicWall. SonicWall had fewer features, but it was cost-effective and suitable for our budget. Aruba, on other hand, was a dedicated WiFi solution and it was way costlier than SonicWall firewall and access point together, hence we selected SonicWall Sonicwave for our branch offices and Aruba for our head office where user count is more, and even management users are present in head office.
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Return on Investment
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Excellent uptime and reliability
  • If licensed properly, failover is easy
  • The newest version upgrade is somewhat cumbersome as they want us to replace hardware, which seems silly, so we are on the most current legacy supported version. Once unsupported, we will need to replace hardware.
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SonicWall
  • SonicWall has an intuitive user interface that allows you to manage all the sound waves in a piece from a single pane of glass.
  • In addition, it is easy to register and onboard access points with SonicWall.
  • As simple as scanning the QR code, the API is automatically added to the network infrastructure once you have registered your new access points and the SonicWALL Wi-Fi Planner tool.
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ScreenShots