Question : Problem: Multiple Access Point Setup

I am setting up 10 Cisco Wireless AP's... I have heard that it is bad to have 2 AP's overlapping on the same wireless channel. My questions are : why is this bad to have to AP's overlapping on the same channel?  Will a laptop automatically switch channels if I am walking from the "zone" of 1 AP to the next? In the process of switching from on AP to the next (same SSID) will the user see any connection changes?

Answer : Problem: Multiple Access Point Setup

The Aironets can detect channel activity and will sort themselves out to pick the least congested channel. If you have any problems you can manually set them as well. If you do so I would suggest you set neighbouring channels at least 2 apart eg on 1 and 3. This may need some planning.

They need to be the same SSID for roaming but not the same channel. If you imagine the APs talking with lights it would be very difficult to distinguish communication with an AP you are trying to reach from background chatter if all the lights were the same colour. We therefore set them to different channels (or colours) so AP1 is using blue and only receives blue light while AP2 on red ignores blue.

Make sense?