Channel Overlap Calculations for 802.11b

[smartnet]

Is anyone familiar with the theory that the 3 non-ovelapping channels of 1,6,11 are a bit restrictive and that actually up to 4 channels can be used (1,4,8,11). I have a site that is a college dorm that looks like an old Motel 6. (Think rectangular, 3 floors, multiple rooms.) The site survey reflects the need for 6 AP's all on the second floor. Signal travels between floors but not very well at all between rooms (probably fire walls). I am thinking of trying this setup to alleviate the problem I may have with interference.

[gverr]

Well in DS (Direct Sequence), each channel is 22MHz wide. The Spread spectrum band is from 2400MHz to 2483.5 MHz, that is 83,5MHz. Count a little space between the channels and you can only get 3 non-overlapping channels 83.5 -(3x22)= 17,5 MHz, < 22MHz.

Why wouldn't you try this 1, 6, 11, 1, 6, 11? The clients will anyway associate whatever the frequency used in the current BSS (cell) provided that the SSID matches.

Guy