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How many access points do you need? A Wi-Fi AP placement guide
Last updated: October 3, 2026.
Good Wi-Fi design answers two questions: where does the signal reach, and how many people can the network serve at once. Plan for both.
Coverage and capacity are different problems
Coverage is about signal strength at every point on the floor. Capacity is about how many clients and how much throughput each access point can carry. A small office may be covered by one access point but need several to serve its devices.
A simple planning process
- Get an accurate floor plan and calibrate its scale with a known dimension.
- Mark the walls and heavy obstructions, such as concrete and lift cores.
- Choose a minimum signal target. About -65 dBm is common for voice and video, and -67 dBm for general enterprise data.
- Estimate demand: concurrent clients and the Mbps each should get.
- Place access points so that every area meets the target, then add more where capacity requires it.
- Check the forecast, adjust positions, and verify on site.
Common mistakes
- Designing only for coverage and ignoring client count.
- Ignoring that 5 GHz and 6 GHz signals lose more strength through walls than 2.4 GHz.
- Placing access points in closets or above dense obstacles instead of in open ceiling space.
- Reusing the same channel on neighbouring access points.
Always validate
A predictive heatmap is a planning estimate. Confirm it with an access-point-on-a-stick survey before buying, and with a survey after installation. You can build a first-pass layout in minutes with our free planner.