Wired UniFi Access Points for a Single-Story Orinda Home

single-story home · Orinda

The situation

The owner of a single-story home in Orinda already had a UniFi gateway and PoE switch in place, but Wi-Fi was still coming from an Orbi mesh system that had started behaving erratically. Rather than troubleshoot the mesh further, they bought three Ubiquiti U7 Pro Wall access points and asked us to come out, talk through where they should go, and install them.

What we did

We walked the house with the owner first and finalized the three access point locations for coverage across the floor plan. From the central network location we ran new Cat6 to each of the three spots, then mounted the customer-supplied U7 Pro Wall units in the recessed boxes they had provided, so each access point sits close to flush with the wall.

Each cable was terminated and labeled — DATA1, DATA2, DATA3 — and patched into the existing PoE switch behind the UniFi Cloud Gateway. We then verified the hardware end of the install: link on every port, PoE delivered to each access point, and normal LED status on all three. The owner handled the UniFi software side (SSIDs, VLANs and advanced settings) themselves.

The result

All three access points are wired, powered over Ethernet and running off the existing UniFi gateway, with the Orbi mesh out of the picture. Because each unit has its own Cat6 run back to the switch, there is no wireless backhaul between them. We walked the owner through the finished install in person and labeled everything so future changes at the switch are obvious. No follow-up work was needed.

UniFi PoE device with several terminated Ethernet patch cables showing link lights and labels.b

Wall-mounted UniFi access point labeled DATA2 with blue status light.

UniFi access point mounted in a recessed wall box with Cat6 cable, labeled DATA1.

Access point cover at baseboard level near an outlet and cords.

Questions about this kind of job

Can you install access points I bought myself?

Yes. On this job the homeowner supplied the three Ubiquiti U7 Pro Wall access points and the recessed mounting boxes, and we handled design, cabling, mounting and the hardware checks.

Why replace a mesh system with wired access points?

A mesh unit relays traffic wirelessly to its neighbors, which adds a point of failure and cuts throughput. Here we ran a separate Cat6 line from the switch to each access point, so every one has its own wired link back to the gateway.

Do wall-mounted access points have to stick out?

Not if recessed boxes are used. In this home each U7 Pro Wall was mounted in a recessed box so the unit sits close to flush with the wall surface, with the cable hidden behind it.

Services: Whole-home Wi-Fi, Mesh Wi-Fi upgrade, Ethernet wiring, Access points

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