Wi-Fi Channel Planning Simulator
Place APs on an office, hotel or warehouse floor, set each one's channel, width and power, and see co-channel and adjacent-channel conflicts, coverage and airtime sharing in 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz.
How to use this tool controls and what to look for
Choose a floor, band and rules, place the APs, and let the simulator plan the channels, or set them yourself. Then check the score.
Controls to change
- Floor: choose an Open office, Hotel corridor or Warehouse.
- Band: choose 2.4, 5 or 6 GHz, and the Rules for Thailand, Europe or the United States.
- Use DFS channels: add the DFS channels to the plan.
- Auto-plan channels: let the simulator choose the channels at the current widths.
- Add an AP: add APs and drag them around. Click an AP to change its channel, width and power. Reset the layout starts again.
- Show: switch the floor between Coverage (SNR) and Where APs are heard (−82 dBm).
- SNR target: choose SNR or RSSI as the Coverage target, and set the level each spot must reach.
What to look for
- APs on the same channel that hear each other share airtime. Watch the same-channel pairs and the worst contention.
- In 2.4 GHz only 1, 6 and 11 work together. Other channels create overlap pairs (ACI).
- Wider channels leave fewer channels to reuse, so in busy buildings they often score worse.
- The What if section compares ideas such as all APs 6 dB quieter, or planning with and without the DFS channels.
About this tool
Plan the channels for a real floor. Place access points in an open office, a hotel corridor or a warehouse, give each a channel, a width and a power level, and see which APs hear each other at the −82 dBm threshold and have to share airtime, and where partly overlapping channels cause adjacent-channel interference. Coverage is shown as SNR or RSSI against your target, walls weaken the signal, and 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz follow the channel lists and 6 GHz low-power indoor limits for Thailand, Europe and the United States. Auto-plan the channels, then use the what-if list to compare narrower channels, DFS and lower power.
What you'll learn
- Why APs on the same channel that hear each other share airtime (co-channel interference)
- Why only channels 1, 6 and 11 work together in 2.4 GHz, and what partly overlapping channels do
- Why wider channels shrink coverage and often lose in busy buildings
- How walls, transmit power and DFS channels change a channel plan
Common questions
How many APs can share a Wi-Fi channel?
Any number can use the same channel, but APs that hear each other at −82 dBm or stronger take turns, so they split one channel's airtime. A good plan keeps APs that hear each other on different channels, and relies on distance, walls and lower power to let the same channel be reused further away.
Should I use 20, 40 or 80 MHz channels?
Wider channels are faster for each AP, but there are fewer of them, so more APs end up sharing, and each doubling of the width adds 3 dB of noise, which shrinks coverage at the same SNR. In busy buildings 20 or 40 MHz in 5 GHz often gives more total capacity; 6 GHz has room for wider channels.
Why does lowering AP power sometimes help?
Quieter APs are heard over a shorter distance, so fewer of them hear each other on the same channel and each one gets more airtime. The cost is smaller coverage, so power has to be balanced against the coverage target.
Free for private and educational use. This interactive model is a simplified teaching aid and may contain mistakes. It is provided as is, without warranty. Use it to understand the concepts, not as a substitute for a site survey, vendor documentation or professional design advice.