ARmy Rumour SErvice

Since I relocated my PC to make room for a nursery, my wireless connectivity has gone to rats. I only have one phone-line into the house so I don't have much leeway in terms of moving the router to a suitable location, and I'm pretty-well stuck with where the PC has ended up - in the conservatory.

Line of sight between router and PC is currently around 5-6m (not far), but has the TV and various associated devices, one brick wall and two radiators in the way. Using a channel scanner app on my phone I've established that signal strength drops as follows:

Stood by the router, clear LOS: -40dBm
Across the room (4-5m), clear LOS: -50dBm
Other side of the wall (5-6m) but above the radiators (only double glazing in the way): -60dBm
Down at receiver level, blocked LOS: -70dBM

The channel seems pretty clear; it's running on channel 9 and there are maybe four other wi-fi signals in the area (only pushing -80dBm max, usually they don't register) on channels 6, 7 and 11. I'm tempted to go with something in the 1-4 or 12-14 region if it's worth it. I also have a wireless thermostat and cordless phone docking station right by the router, but neither of those devices can go anywhere else in the house and I'm not sure which channels they operate on.

The router was given to me by Orange, who are my ISP by proxy (through a BT land-line). It's a Siemens Gigaset SE572. The receiver is a Belkin Wireless-G internal PCI device.

Part of me thinks the router is just pants, as the drop-off in signal across a 4m clear gap seems a bit steep. I've looked at getting a new one but would a) like some clarification that this is necessary and b) some advice on what to buy (or where from). £50 is as much as I'm prepared to spend and these are on my shortlist:

Netgear WNR1000 N150 Rangemax Wireless Router DSL Cable- microdirect.co.uk

Linksys By Cisco Wireless-N Home BT ADSL2+ Modem Router (WAG120N-UK) - dabs.com

NetGear DGN1000 Wireless-N 150 Modem Router ADSL (DGN1000-100UKS) - dabs.com

If I bought new I'd go for a -N device to future-proof it a bit, and if it worked I'd probably swap out the receiver from -G to -N to get the benefits. However I'm also considering new aerials, range extenders and signal repeaters if they do the job with no particular complications and work out better value.

So, fellow ARRSErs, what do you recommend? If a £50 router likely to solve my problems or is the LOS my main concern? If it's LOS, would a repeater, extender, or new aerial in a better position cure things? If I'm buying something new, what products would you look at?

As ever I appreciate your advice!

Bruno

You know too much already and any more information will cause your head to explode. (oh and check your cordless phone channels too).