For most UK offices, the right WiFi is WiFi 6E access points from Ubiquiti UniFi, Cisco Meraki or Ruckus, cabled to a PoE switch, managed from a single controller, with separate networks for staff, guests and printers/IoT. Budget £1,500–£3,000 for a typical 10-person office including a short site survey; £500–£900 per access point at larger sites. Don't use consumer mesh kit — it collapses under VoIP calls and teams of more than five.
What "best" actually means for an office
Home WiFi is optimised for one thing: speed to a single device. Office WiFi is optimised for four: capacity (many devices at once), roaming (walking between rooms without dropping a call), segmentation (staff vs guest vs printers) and manageability (one controller, not ten apps). Any kit that nails those four is fine. Any kit that doesn't, isn't — no matter what the box says.
The three brand tiers we actually deploy
- Ubiquiti UniFi — best value. WiFi 6E access points from about £180, no per-AP licensing, clean cloud controller. Our default pick for 10–80 user offices.
- Cisco Meraki — best for multi-site businesses and where IT governance demands Cisco. Excellent dashboard, but pay annual licences per AP (£40–£90/yr).
- Ruckus (CommScope) — best RF performance, especially in dense/awkward buildings (solicitors' offices in listed buildings, healthcare clinics with lots of walls). Controller options include RuckusOne cloud.
We don't deploy TP-Link Omada at commercial scale, mesh-only consumer kit, or anything with "gaming" in the product name.
WiFi 6E vs WiFi 7 in 2026
WiFi 6E (2021) added the 6 GHz band — more spectrum, less congestion, better for dense offices. Client support is now widespread: iPhones from the 15 Pro, most 2023+ laptops, recent Android phones. WiFi 7 (2024) adds multi-link operation, 320 MHz channels and lower latency. Real-world for an office, the gains are modest today unless you have very high-density meeting rooms or AR/VR use cases.
Our rule for 2026: if you're installing new, WiFi 6E is the sweet spot on price-per-performance. If you're already re-cabling for Cat 6A or running a very busy training room, spend the extra 25–40% on WiFi 7 and stop worrying for five years. The Ofcom spectrum rules for WiFi set the UK regulatory backdrop — both standards are fully licence-exempt here.
Site surveys — why you still need one
A fag-packet drawing gets you most of the way for small offices. But any site over 200 m², anywhere with plasterboard-on-metal walls, or anywhere with dense shelving needs a real survey. A proper predictive survey (using Ekahau, TamoGraph or UniFi Design Center) costs £250–£750 and saves you from the two classic failure modes:
- Not enough APs — dead spots, dropped VoIP calls
- Too many APs — cell overlap, channel contention, devices flapping between them
Segmentation: the non-negotiable
Every office needs at least three SSIDs, separated by VLAN:
- Staff — 802.1X or WPA3 with Entra ID / RADIUS auth, not a shared password.
- Guest — isolated, captive portal, rate-limited, no access to internal networks.
- IoT / printers — separate VLAN, no inbound from guest, strict ACLs.
Without this, one dodgy guest laptop can see your file server. It's also a Cyber Essentials scope question — a flat network often drags in devices you didn't intend to certify.
Cabling and PoE — the bit that matters more than the AP
Cat 6A to every AP, PoE+ (30W) at minimum, a managed switch with 802.1X. Skimping here is the most common install we come back to fix. Cheap unmanaged switches give you flat VLANs, poor QoS and no roaming control. A proper Layer-2/3 switch from Ubiquiti, Cisco or Aruba costs £300–£900 for a 24-port and transforms what the access points can do.
What a typical install costs in 2026
- 10-user office, 150 m², 2 APs: £1,500–£3,000 all in (kit, cabling, install, controller, remote survey).
- 30-user office, two floors, 5 APs: £4,500–£7,500.
- Warehouse or clinic, 600 m², 8–12 APs: £7,500–£14,000.
For larger sites our rule-of-thumb is £500–£900 per AP installed (kit plus labour plus cable). Ongoing management is typically bundled into the monthly IT support fee, or priced separately at £5–£15 per AP per month.
How Syntek installs WiFi
We survey, cable, install, commission and manage. A typical small office install is 1–2 days on site after a 1-day predictive survey, plus a follow-up walk test on go-live day. We also supply pre-printed guest-WiFi QR codes for meeting rooms so visitors don't have to ask. See our WiFi install service or book a survey on .
FAQ
How many access points do I need for my office?
A rough rule: one access point per 150–200 m² for general office use, or one per 25–35 concurrent users if you're high-density. Only a site survey gives a real answer.
Should I buy WiFi 6E or WiFi 7 in 2026?
WiFi 6E is the current sweet spot for cost and client support. WiFi 7 is worth the extra if you're re-cabling anyway or have very high-density meeting rooms.
How much does a commercial WiFi install cost?
For a typical 10-user office: £1,500–£3,000 for hardware and install. Larger sites or multi-floor installs typically run £500–£900 per access point installed.
Is mesh WiFi good enough for an office?
Consumer mesh is fine for 3–5 users at home. For an office with 10+ devices, VoIP calls or guest networks, use proper wired access points on a managed controller.