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Hello Spiceworks. We are looking at a new wireless system for our school and the choices at the moment are down to the Ubiquity Networks and Aerohive. I am looking for a pros and cons list of both manufacturers. I also would love a comparison of the hardware and the software, and a comparison for pricing. So far the Unifi serious looks more affordable and has no hardware contracts. So that is very appealing. But I am curious to know more about the software for both sides. Can one piece of software do things that the other can’t and if so, then what? Just some information: Each access point will have around 20-30 devices connected to it at a time. Also all of our devices are laptops, with a few iPads here and there. Thanks in advance.

@Ubiquiti_Inc

3 Spice ups
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We have Ubiquiti Unifi AP’s here. They are great and work in unison. Can move about the building without dropping the WiFi.

Software interface is also a plus. It comes with the hardware, so no additional cost to manage from a web portal.

2 Spice ups
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Aerohive has more features in general in terms of security and client-specific stuff. The APs are pretty nicely designed. However, in my experience with a single one (and the fact that the first one I’ve tried does it is enough to keep me from trying other Aerohive products, to be honest) the AP will after some random amount of time just plain stop pushing traffic. Or it will push traffic, but very, very slowly. A reload fixes it.

I have a good amount of Ubiquitis in place, and have not yet seen this issue with any of them. I’m using a mix of UAP, UAP-PRO, and UAP-AC access points. The speeds are great. Earlier firmware versions gave me some issues with latency, but that seems to be resolved in the newest releases. While you do not get as many features as the Aerohive stuff, you do get a very flexible and simple controller system, and a huge cost advantage. Any of the features that it can’t do, in terms of security, I am able to do on my firewall or switches anyway - so to me it’s not a huge difference.

I personally can’t recommend Aerohive, as experiencing an issue of that enormity on the first AP I try is a pretty big sign that they don’t have major kinks worked out. Ubiquiti APs do have their flaws, but the software is constantly being updated, and for the price, to me, they’re minuscule and hardly worth mentioning.

1 Spice up
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Tim, do you have a mixture of UAP and UAP Pro in the same environment? Or are they at separate locations?

One of the things that I like about Aerohive is the cloud controller so you can control any of the access points anywhere as long as it has an internet connection. I have looked into it, and it looks like some people have been able to do this with Ubiquity, but I don’t believe it is with the full controller.

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I have a mixture of UAP Pro’s in the high traffic areas and UAP’s filling in the holes. The UAP Pro’s are heavy lifters!

Cloud hosting for UniFi is well supported.

Regards,

Brian in CA

2 Spice ups
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I’ve not heard of Aerohive before, but have used Ubiquity and been favorably impressed. The thing I really liked about the setup I have used is the fact that the system had no controller. It was built into the APs, but you only had to log in to one of them to make changes and the changes are then replicated throughout all APs. APs were quite affordable, too, which is always a good thing.

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Brian, who do you use for cloud hosting? Also can you view the whole controller and can you access all of the features?

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While you do not get as many features as the Aerohive stuff, you do get a very flexible and simple controller system, and a huge cost advantage.

What are the features that Aerohive’s software has that Ubiquity’s software does not? Thanks.

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I don’t cloud host ANYTHING, I even run our own owncloud instance, but many folks are cloud hosting their UniFI installs.

http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Wireless/Problems-with-Amazon-EC2-UniFi-instance/m-p/1020253#U1020253

http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Wireless/External-hosting-of-Unifi-Controller/m-p/1027819#U1027819

http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Wireless/If-anyone-wants-cheap-controller-hosting/m-p/1018327#U1018327

http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Wireless/Controller-in-the-cloud-specific-questions/m-p/821494/highlight/true#M61964

The community should be a first stop on your eval.

Regards,

Brian in CA

2 Spice ups
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Thanks Brian, I had actually just came across the cloud hosting couple weeks ago, but haven’t had time to dive in to it. Thanks for the links!

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Yes, they are in the same location. I have a single UAP at a remote site (small office) which is connected here via VPN, and I manage it from the same controller as all of my other APs. I could also manage it if it were not on the VPN by opening the correct port on my firewall, and setting the “notify” URL in the access point configuration. The main difference in controller software is providing your own hardware vs. cloud-hosted like Aerohive. I personally prefer providing my own hardware, as it allows me more control and more flexibility - but to each their own. Some people do not like to manage controllers themselves, and for certain scenarios I don’t blame them.

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Mainly security. In Aerohive APs, you can pretty granularly control who can connect, who can’t, what will happen when they connect, etc… With Unifi, I believe you can block people from an SSID, and that’s about it. There are other features in Aerohive that Unifi doesn’t have, but I didn’t spend enough time in the web interface to really recall what they were. I ended up disassociating the AP from the cloud hosting and doing the config via CLI (for no reason other than it wasn’t going to be used in my environment, so I am now using it for my home AP).

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Go with Meraki for cloud. More stable and uses all enterprise grade components unlike what I’ve heard about AH using some consumer grade components and having iffy radios in them.

@Cisco_Meraki_1

1 Spice up
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Cisco-Meraki is pretty amazing… I have no trouble with it. Pretty easy to manage.

As for aerohive, I’ve used them in the past, had a lot of troubles with laptops connecting to the domain, Windows would display “no logon servers” most of the time because they would be kicked off right away… but when i moved to Meraki… Everything was fine. If I were you, i’d look into it :slight_smile:

2 Spice ups
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What is their pricing like per for access point? Also do they have the same contract system for the hardware like Cisco, since they are now owned by Cisco? Thanks.

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Cloud licensing depends on where you get it from. Airspeed wireless and CDW seem to have the best prices for the gear and the cloud license. Airspeed also takes paypal so I was able to get my Z1 easy that way. Also got a 3 year for the price of a 1 year from airspeed vs getting it at newegg.com.

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Since this thread is now off course i would recommend looking at the ruckus line of wireless products.

@Ruckus

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This is a great forum to discuss these excellent WiFi competitors and their advantages and disadvantages. I am currently an Aerohive client. It’s November 2015, so let’s put this in perspective. Aerohive latest upgrade to their controller software is comprehensive and very clean, kudos, however the organization itself is not very customer friendly nor do they seem to have any level of executive transparency notwithstanding their being a small public company. From a tech perspective, they have great tech but it’s much more limited a line of hardware when compared to the less expensive Ubiquiti option. What interests me is the self healing mesh network functionality and the newest gigabit plus standards using AC access points. I am now comparing performance, cost, support and responsiveness of both systems to see why one is better than the other for multi site implementation.

1 Spice up