Wireless Overhaul - Access Points

[Olliedawg]

Hi all, looking for recommendations/advice on upgrading our ageing WiFi infrastructure (WiFi 5 AC-Pro's)

 

We have the following

• no 1:1 device scheme, not on the roadmap
• Around 100 shared student iPads
• Each teacher/support staff have a laptop
• ~34 student shared laptops

 

I was thinking of going for either the U7 Pro or U7 Lite? (Sticking with Unifi) Any opinions on the U7 Lite? 

 

We have about 30 AP's across the school. Coverage is pretty good, one or two dead spots but other than that great.

[lparry]

We've just done pretty much the same upgrade over the summer (49 AP-AC-PRO's to 49 U7-PRO-MAX's).

 

Personally, I'd go for the U7-PRO purely for the futureproofing of having 6 GHz and the little bit of extra range.

 

One thing we have noted, Don't try and use the AC-Pro's anywhere near the U7's as they just get drowned out and drop packets (leading to fun tickets of WiFi issues which magically fix themselves when you look at it then break when you look away)

 

(Warning: The PRO-MAX gets stupidly warm to the touch and I am assuming the PRO will as well!)

[synaesthesia]

Get a couple in and test - as you hit the more modern tech the signal range drops massively, with even stud walls providing a meaningful barrier. Going from AP5s up to 7s I suspect you'll find noticeable where clients pick up 5G as high preference and might need to improve AP density. (I sound like our unifi cloud key dashboard saying that )

[lparry]

2 minutes ago, synaesthesia said:

Get a couple in and test - as you hit the more modern tech the signal range drops massively, with even stud walls providing a meaningful barrier. Going from AP5s up to 7s I suspect you'll find noticeable where clients pick up 5G as high preference and might need to improve AP density. (I sound like our unifi cloud key dashboard saying that )

Glad it's not just ours!

[Davit2005]

With new WiFi tech I don't think you can jus put one in to replace another necessarily. I'd advise a wifi audit if you can get one.

Edited December 2, 2025 by Davit2005

[AlphamaleZed]

U7 Lite is best bang for buck and does the job well. 

don’t waste going u7 pro max. The time a mobile device will support it properly a new standard be released! 
 

Use that u7 pro money on u7 lites then a few extras to expand coverage or keep some of the old ones as there not end of life yet! 

 

it has barely made a difference to a class of 32x Chromebooks using a u7 lite compared to a pro. 

 

my environment is around 90 aps a mix of AC Pro, u6 pro, u6 lite, u6 lr, u7 lite and u7 pro with around 1000 clients. 
I’ve nearly used them all. 

Edited December 2, 2025 by AlphamaleZed
Spelling

[GK1999]

We've just replaced our aging Extreme (even some AeroHive 🐵 APs with the U7s. Works a treat. 

 

I do find the signal on the U7s to be weaker than previous APs, but we have an AP per classroom with the radios turned right down, so it could be our setup. 

 

We have 86 APs in total  

[KK20]

My recommendation is to look at why you are wanting to upgrade.   Blackspots?  Bandwidth?  clients having difficulty connecting?

 

I had our apprentice go around each classroom running inssider generating a coverage map.   There had never been a proper "tuning" or channel map conducted.  In the end it was better to turn down the power, set channels, moved the access points to different points in the room.  We didnt bother upgrading anything although we did add a few U6-Pro to fill in some darker areas. We do have a single U7 and boy does that run hot.  Very hot in fact, so keep that in mind if you do go U7.  We didnt go with the U7 as they are only 2x2 devices, we will have more density (chromebooks) so kept with a 4x4 U6-Pro, plus we dont have 2.5gb POE.  Monitoring switch ports show that the U6-Pro rarely max out the 1Gb anyway, I suspect the U7 will only max out on 6Ghz wide channels - we dont have many 6Ghz capable devices.

 

In short, running at optimised 5Ghz channels with 40Mhz width on a 4x4 U6-Pro (or R750 ruckus) with 2.4Ghz turned right down and 5Ghz not running on max power was a better fit than ripping everything out.  2.4Ghz is enabled on our outdoor APs as that reaches the fields/allweather better and can still be used by the chromebooks and ipads.

 

We have a site mixture of Ruckus unleashed and Unifi EFG.  

[Olliedawg]

24 minutes ago, KK20 said:

My recommendation is to look at why you are wanting to upgrade.   Blackspots?  Bandwidth?  clients having difficulty connecting?

 

I had our apprentice go around each classroom running inssider generating a coverage map.   There had never been a proper "tuning" or channel map conducted.  In the end it was better to turn down the power, set channels, moved the access points to different points in the room.  We didnt bother upgrading anything although we did add a few U6-Pro to fill in some darker areas. We do have a single U7 and boy does that run hot.  Very hot in fact, so keep that in mind if you do go U7.  We didnt go with the U7 as they are only 2x2 devices, we will have more density (chromebooks) so kept with a 4x4 U6-Pro, plus we dont have 2.5gb POE.  Monitoring switch ports show that the U6-Pro rarely max out the 1Gb anyway, I suspect the U7 will only max out on 6Ghz wide channels - we dont have many 6Ghz capable devices.

 

In short, running at optimised 5Ghz channels with 40Mhz width on a 4x4 U6-Pro (or R750 ruckus) with 2.4Ghz turned right down and 5Ghz not running on max power was a better fit than ripping everything out.  2.4Ghz is enabled on our outdoor APs as that reaches the fields/allweather better and can still be used by the chromebooks and ipads.

 

We have a site mixture of Ruckus unleashed and Unifi EFG.  

Mostly just blackspots, however would be nice to future proof for when our network is upgraded to more than 1Gbps across the LAN.

 

I'll take a look at that software, looks useful. Maybe we just need some channel/power adjustment.

 

[FN-GM]

Get the U7 XG over the U7 Pro. Primarily because the pro has a fan installed and the XG is passive cooling, less to go wrong. As a bonus the XG has a port capable of 5 and 10 gigabit. The XG is only £19 more expensive. The lack of a fan makes it worth the extra....

[DrCheese]

yes, avoid the standard pros. They were Unifi's first Wifi 7 points and it shows with the fan. They also didn't have stable firmware for a long time.

 

I don't recommend the U7-Lites either - You're missing 6ghz which is a big bonus of Wifi 7.

 

We're going for the U7-XGS's - Means we keep the 4x4 5ghz radio we have from our NanoHD's currently & gives us things like Zero wait DFS (We use DFS)/Spectral scanning. Useful for congested areas

Edited December 4, 2025 by DrCheese

[FragglePete]

I'll just throw this into the ring..... Cambium... !  

 

Pricing very similar to UniFi, free cloud management and has support available if need be.  Redway Networks did our configuration and we haven't looked back.  93 APs around our site with no real issues at all now.

 

My only complaint, getting more info on who, what, where and when requires paid licensing to Cambium X.  But, we're managing as is for now.

 

Pete

 

[KK20]

another thing that people often overlook (if you are doing this yourself) is the radiation pattern.  Most vendors put these out AP Antenna Radiation Patterns – Ubiquiti Help Center  this may give a reason as to why certain rooms have seemingly poor coverage.  The radiation pattern might be sending your signals out of the window or into a corridor.  We repositioned most of our unifis to be "near the entrance and pointing towards the middle of the room" not central and not in a corner, this seemed to fit with the pattern of our U6 radiating "down and out".  The ruckus was better in the very middle of the room.  In two of our rooms, simply moving the AP solved an issue of poor connectivity.