Internet speed has improved to gigabit, but Wi-Fi performance remains limited.
Internet speed has improved to gigabit, but Wi-Fi performance remains limited.
Your iPhone 12 mini achieved roughly 450mbit at a distance of about 3 meters with line of sight, likely near the access point on top of the UDM. You should be seeing higher speeds than that. Check the UniFi dashboard and view the Rx/Tx rates for each device you’re using.
Have you used WiFi Analyzer or WiFiman to examine the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands in your house? In my experience, if I could achieve +1Gbps and truly wanted to boost performance, I’d choose WiFi 6E. The 6GHz frequency offers a clear advantage. However, because it covers less distance than 5GHz, you’ll likely need several access points placed thoughtfully throughout your home to keep devices within ideal range for 6GHz signals.
Check if your Wi-Fi router or device supports 80 MHz channels. If your network advertises speeds like 1 Gbps (often shown as "AC####"), it should be able to handle higher channel widths. Verify with a Wi-Fi analyzer app; if nothing more can be done based on your setup, then upgrading to a Wi-Fi 6 system could help. However, Wi-Fi 5 is still viable for many users depending on your environment.
The UDM is a WiFi 5 (second generation) device operating on both 80MHz and 160MHz at 5GHz. While larger channel widths can boost potential speeds over WiFi, they must be paired with compatible clients that fully utilize 4x4 MIMO and are in close range. Additionally, it's common for many access points to adjust their radiation patterns when switching channel widths to stay within power limits. A broader width usually draws more power, which reduces the effective range.