You've just taken on more space, or maybe your existing office has always had a room where the Wi-Fi drops out. The obvious answer, according to most IT quotes, is to run new structured cabling to every corner of the building and fit ceiling-mounted access points. That's the right long-term answer for a purpose-built office fit-out, but it's expensive, disruptive, and often takes weeks to schedule around contractors, landlords, and your own staff trying to work around holes in the ceiling. For a lot of small and medium businesses in Greater Manchester, that's simply not practical when you need a fix now.
There is a quicker, less disruptive route that still gives you solid, business-grade Wi-Fi: in-wall access points. They're a genuinely useful option when you need to expand coverage without a full rewire, and they're one of the first things we look at when a client calls us about patchy signal or a new area of the building that needs connecting up.
The problem with full structured cabling projects
Structured cabling isn't a bad thing, it's the gold standard for a reason. But it comes with real costs that small businesses need to weigh up:
- Disruption to the working day while cables are run through walls, floors, and ceilings.
- Higher upfront cost, especially in older buildings or listed properties common across Manchester's converted mill and warehouse office spaces.
- Longer lead times, since you're often relying on landlord permissions and specialist cabling contractors.
- Overkill for a business that's growing steadily rather than committing to a ten-year lease in a purpose-built unit.
If you're expanding into an extra room, adding desks in a previously unused area, or just patching a known weak spot, waiting weeks and spending thousands on cabling rarely makes sense.
How in-wall access points solve this
In-wall access points, such as Ubiquiti's range, fit directly into a standard UK double gang wall socket, in many cases replacing an existing network or power socket rather than requiring new containment. They connect back to your existing network using whatever cabling or power infrastructure is already in place, and in many setups can even pass through a wired connection to a desktop or phone behind them.
For a small business, that means:
- Coverage can be extended into a new room or floor in a day, not weeks.
- No need to lift floors, chase walls, or fit ceiling voids with new cable runs.
- Enterprise-grade Wi-Fi performance, the same underlying technology used in ceiling-mounted units, just packaged differently.
- Lower cost per access point installed, since labour and materials are a fraction of a full cabling job.
This makes them particularly well suited to businesses renting flexible office space, businesses that expect to move or reconfigure within a few years, and anyone who needs a quick, reliable win rather than a multi-week project.
When structured cabling is still the right call
We're not suggesting in-wall access points replace structured cabling everywhere. If you're fitting out a new building from scratch, planning a long-term lease, or need dozens of access points across multiple floors, proper cabling with ceiling-mounted units usually gives you better long-term value, tidier cable management, and more consistent coverage. It's also the more future-proof option if you expect significant headcount growth.
The point is that the two approaches aren't mutually exclusive. Many of our clients use a mix, structured cabling for the core of the office and in-wall units to quickly extend coverage into an annexe, a newly acquired room, or a temporary space while a bigger project is planned.
Getting the setup right
The key to making in-wall access points work well is proper network design, not just bolting a unit to the wall. That means checking your existing switch has capacity and Power over Ethernet where needed, making sure the access points are managed centrally alongside any existing Wi-Fi hardware, and setting up separate networks for guest access, staff devices, and anything security-sensitive like card payment terminals. Done properly, in-wall access points perform just as reliably as their ceiling-mounted equivalents, and your team won't notice any difference in day-to-day use.
A practical fix for growing businesses
If your business is expanding, dealing with a Wi-Fi dead spot, or just needs a fast, cost-effective way to get reliable connectivity into a new area, in-wall access points are worth serious consideration before you commit to a full cabling project. At Valetech Solutions, we design and install business Wi-Fi solutions across Greater Manchester tailored to the building you're actually in, not a one-size-fits-all approach. Get in touch with Valetech Solutions to talk through the quickest, most cost-effective way to sort your Wi-Fi coverage.