In a system comprising a first access point serving a first wireless network; and a neighboring access point serving a neighboring wireless network having coverage overlapping with the first wireless network, where the first access point and the neighboring access point transmit beacon messages at beacon times that are temporally separated by predetermined beacon periods, a method of operating the system is disclosed, the method comprising: the first access point sending a first offer to the neighboring access point, the first offer offering a period of silent time to the neighboring access point during which period of silent time the first access point silences the first wireless network, the period of silent time being independent of the beacon times and the beacon periods.