HPE Aruba Instant On AP11D Wireless Access Point, 2x2:2 MU-MIMO Technology - R2X15A

I currently have a mesh network from a different company with both indoor and outdoor access points. The company has gone out of business so I needed to replace the network with something. I investigated the different systems and settled on the Aruba Instant On mesh network because of the reviews cost effectiveness.I set up the AP11D in my basement and connected to my router. I was amazed with the coverage of the single access point. I receive a signal anywhere in the back yard as well as anywhere inside the 1,000 sq ft house.Some may complain that the Aruba Instant On system is a little pricey but I feel for the quality, it is well worth the cost.

Plug it in (to the network, because POE!) fire up the Aruba app on your phone and tell it to give you the WIFIs! That is really how easy it is. I use these in a few short term rentals and setup separate SSIDs that are isolated as a guest network and they work like a charm. I paired this with a Meraki-Go firewall for a network that is so simple to manage, anyone can do it. Aruba InstantOn devices are very well built, POE switches and POE access points are a great combo and you can manage them from anywhere. The automatic firmware updates are nice and I have never had an issue with speed on a 500mbps internet connection. Having dual radios (2.4 and 5 ghz) makes it work with everything.

Works great - I like the app interface. Tried to set it up in-situ, which was a struggle. Plugged it directly into my router and set up was easy. Then moved it to the required location and never looked back. I bought the model which came with the power adapter, rather than rely on the POI alternative.

These are great product. I run them in my home and at client sites. The app is good, but it could be better. The range on these is exceptional.

The first frustration immediately comes after opening the box, NO PSU. What even worse is this is it's a 48V DC in, not a common 12V DC adapter for. To be clear, there is nothing mentioned in the description, the only clue is "R2X15A".The 2nd frustration is after i managed to find a POE injector and power up this pretty AP. I can't add the AP to the APP after I registered Instanton account on App, although the green and amber LED flashing like the installation guide said. I tried to reset to default following the manual, I didn't even know if the device reset or not because there is no "blinking LED" mentioned in the manual. Anyway, no luck after trying and trying.I had to grab a laptop, looking into my router...ok, no IP address was assigned to the AP. I tried replacing cable, change the AP from gateway mode to AP mode. Finally it works after I replace the POE injector to the one I borrowed from my office. I guess this is to do with weird jumper cable design.It works fine after that. The app experience is like my previous netgear Orbi. Now I'm trying to find the PSU for it, the cheapest i can find is $30~40 without knowing it works with this pretty AP or not.

I bought this for my detached home office and it is phenomenal. My office is only about 130 square feet so I can't really speak to the range, but I can say that it is designed for a small environment and for that it works supremely well. Speeds are super fast I'm getting around 300M down which is what my ISP offers, but the best thing about this unit is that it just works! I've had it installed for about 6 months and I never have to touch it. User interface is super easy and very robust. I'm using mine in an AP configuration but I'm planning on adding more units soon and re configuring this as my router.

Pros... Build quality is good and setup is easy. The native vlan must have Internet access and DHCP must be enabled for the initial setup. Once it received an IP address it was easy to add to my site via the InstantOn portal. The vlan configs were automatically sync'd to match the existing devices.Cons... The vlans can only be assigned to the wireless networks. You cannot assign different native vlans to the remaining 3 ports. This is the deal breaker. If you run a flat network it may not be an issue.Notes... Once added to your site you can set a static IP using the advanced tab. Also, some may find it difficult to understand what the E0/PT, E0, PT and jumper is for.Basically, E0/PT and PT are internally connected. So, if you are going to use the desktop stand, you'd want to leave the jumper in and plug your trunk into the E0/PT port on the bottom. (See image)If you are going to wall mount using the single gang, remove the jumper and plug your trunk into E0 at the back.If you also have phone at the single gang, plug your phone line from the wall into PT on the back. Then plug the line from your phone into the E0/PT at the bottom. (see image)

I wanted an AP that had additional Ethernet ports to allow for a couple of hardwired computers and this product was perfect! Range is great for what it is, my only wish is that Aruba eventually releases a WiFi 6 version of this AP to match their updated AP 25s that I use in the rest of the house.