Active Network Management (ANM) has been trialed in recent years to tackle constraints on the grid caused by increased penetration of Distributed Generation. The selection of communication channels is a key element of delivering the benefits of ANM. Understanding the performance of a solution prior to implementation is an invaluable tool as utilities and generators decide on what technologies to invest in. Thus it is the aim of this paper to present a flexible test-bed for ANM solutions which makes use of an open source communications emulation tool, NS-3.