I am currently using a wired LAn with a cable modem, router, hub and various cables. The reason for the LAN is to share the Internet connection between 2 desktops and 2 laptops. Now, I am considering going wireless. There are just too many cables and I just hate having to plug cables into the laptops in order to get connected to the Internet.

The problem is, I am worried about the range. What is the "real" range of a typical wireless router? They sometimes say "100m indoors" but they don't say what kind of walls they can go through and with what penalty on the actual range. I live in an old apartment and I only need it to go 10m max. 10m, while going through 3 40cm brick/concrete walls (yes, three over 1 foot thick brick/concrete walls). Can a low-end wireless do that?

Now, I haven't decided on a particular wireless router but here's a list of what I can get anytime:
D-Link AirPlusG DI-524
Linksys WRT54GC
Asus WL-520GC
EDIMAX BR-6204Wg
EDIMAX BR-6304Wg
EDIMAX WK-1068
MSI RG54SE
MSI RG60G

speaking from personal experience with my wrt54g v5 (i know it's crap, but updated linksys firmware has solved all of its issues...so far), the range is about 30-35ft (definitely no more than 45-50ft) in an old building like the one you are in. Concrete walls throughout too, cell phone reception is not that great in here so you get the idea of how bad it is. My current set up is two desktops, an xbox, and a DS. The signal strength from one room to the next is good to my other desktop and xbox and the ds gets good signal strength no matter where I am. However, there's all types of factors that contribute to what kind of range you'll be getting.

You could also buy a cheap dd-wrt compatible router and increase the range manually. You could also buy some cheap high gain antennas and make a home made parabola out of paper and tin foil to increase your range even more if it's an issue. Instructions here --> http://www.freeantennas.com/projec [...] index.html