Case Study: Arcadia Unified School District achieves district-wide, cost-effective Wi‑Fi coverage with Ubiquiti UniFi

UniFi Provides Wireless Coverage to Arcadia Unified School District in California

Arcadia Unified School District, a 12‑school district near Los Angeles serving nearly 10,000 students, faced failing Wi‑Fi controller hardware and could not afford direct replacement. After evaluating options, the district selected Ubiquiti’s UniFi platform (UniFi Access Points and UniFi Controller software) as a lower‑cost, software‑based alternative that district maintenance staff could deploy quickly.

Ubiquiti’s UniFi APs were piloted and then rolled out across schools (initial pilot: 20 APs for under $1,500; deployments include UAP, UAP‑Outdoor, UAP‑LR and UAP‑PRO models), with the bundled UniFi Controller used for mapping and configuration. The Ubiquiti solution allowed faster installs (a 3‑pack went online within an hour), denser coverage (one AP per 2–3 classrooms vs. 4–5 previously), quicker logins, reliable campus‑wide connectivity (administrators reported iPads working in every classroom) and successful high‑density testing (35 laptops ran the Smarter Balanced assessment over a single UniFi AP PRO).

Arcadia Unified School District

Scott Bramley

Chief Technology Officer