What to do USW-24Poe or Pro 24 PoE or Pro Max?

Question

Let me start by saying I have a UCG-Fiber and a USW-24PoE switch, along with some unifi access points. I also run a non Unifi 16 NVR camera system, VoIP phones, and a large separate POS system.

Initially, I thought the U5G-Max (14.5w), four Yealink phones (totaling 16 watts), and my four access points (totaling 53 watts) would work well. However, I didn’t fully account for the wattage, and I’m currently at about (83.5 watts) on a switch that can handle a maximum of 95 watts, which means there’s no room for growth.

To free up the switch, I moved my U5G-max cellular failover to the UCG-Fiber’s PoE port, but that still leaves me with 26 watts of flexibility. I’m currently using two older AC Pros that draw a maximum of 9 watts each, and I’d like to upgrade them someday, but I’m still feeling a bit short on wattage. I wish I had upgraded to the Pro 24 PoE or Pro Max to alleviate this PoE anxiety. I do have a TP-Link 24 PoE switch That I put back into service for extra PoE devices, but I am just kicking myself for being cheap and not doing this right from the start.

As for using my TP-Link switch, I’m considering migrating over time to the Unifi cameras as I have failure of my current equipment. So I was saving the TP-Link for that, but since that isn't happening now I figure I will just use it to bandage this situation.

Did I make a big mistake with the USW-24POE Standard, and should I go with the Pro Max or Pro? To be fair, I’m used to dealing with cameras and phones that use very little wattage, around 3-4 watts, and access points like the AC Pro that use 9 watts. So, this never was an issue until I started buying WiFi 7 devices. 

Posted Feb 20, 2026, 4:32 PM UTC

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