AP Upgrade Experience - AC-LR -> U6-Pro
I've seen many posts asking advise on upgrading from legacy AC access points. I too was interested and researching until a firmware update bricked my 9 year 11 month old AC-LR... just days away from 10. Want became need. For context I'm a home user with kids and reliable internet is a must. Wood/drywall construction. Basic home use, video streaming, gaming, web browsing, etc, nothing crazy. I chose the U6-Pro as a replacement for a few reasons:
- My IPS speed is only 300/300. The AC-LR can keep up with that just fine and the newer models will be bottlenecked from this. Yet I just don't need more than this, I don't understand why folks jump to 1gig+plans for their homes.
- I don't need 6ghz, I don't live in a congested wifi space.
- My switches are 1 gig. U7's benefit from 2.5gig and 10gig connections and I'm not upgrading my backbone until the hardware fails, I just don't need the added speed and jumping to a U7 would start the upgrade itch for everything else. I know you all know what I mean, I read your posts. :)
- I got the pro over the plus for the 4x4 vs 2x2. Did I need this? Probably not but this was my indulgence.
After a week with my new U6 Pro, here's what I saw:
- The 2.4ghz band shows increased interference, changing the channel doesn't help. The best guess/reddit tip to this is the radios on the U6 are more sensitive than the AC-LR, makes sense to me. I see absolutely no drop in 2.4ghz wifi performance so I stopped digging into this for now.
- The install was...your normal Unifi ap install. They give you a nice security tool poker that was missing on the AC-LR.
- My overall wifi experience is the same as with the AC-LR. For my needs, I see no difference in "user experience". Wifi is still rock solid. Kids don't scream unless I reboot something.
I'm very happy with my new U6-Pro, I would recommend the unit. I'm still not happy with Ubiquity for the bricking of my AC-LR but I'm in good company here on that. For those wondering if there is a benefit to upgrading from a working AC-LR, my answer is "No". If your needs are like mine, save the money until you need to upgrade. Maybe hold off on firmware updates as well for a while. Have a plan for replacement when they go.
Posted Feb 28, 2026, 1:16 PM UTC