Linksys 802.11b wireless router signal weak

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Hi there,

I'm new to this group, and have a problem with the Linksys router I
just bought. Any thoughts is much appreciated.

Before I bought the router, I was planning to put the router at the
basement, while i would probably use my computer at 2nd floor. I
thought the wireless router should be able to reach all floors since
it says it has 100 feet range.

However, after I bought it, i found that the signal is so low that it
seems like any wall would blocks most of the signal.

I use my brother's Mac Power Book laptop for testing and it could
bearly detects the connection between 2nd and main floor (I tried to
put the router on main floor for testing) and it is extremely slow and
unstable. It is unusable. I also used my PC, but it could only pick up
signal at level 2 (out of 4) even it was only 2 feets away from the
router. If I put it a bit further away, the gauge doesn't even show
anything, thought a slim connection may still be there.

Did I have an defective router? Or is it because it is an 802.11b
router? (I mean, would a 802.11g has stronger signal?) I have tried
the channels settings and try to play around with the location and the
antenna, but not much help. The Linksys manual given is almost useless
as it only have most info on how to use the router as a *wired*
router, but not much about wireless at all. And it doesn't talk about
how to use the "Advance" settings and what each settings do. They have
quite a few settings, but I don't have any idea what each one does and
how would it help improving the signal.

I'm quite desperate now for I need to run a wire on my floor for my
cable connection, across the rooms. and it seems like the money I
spent are wasted. My brother is suggesting us to buy a AirPort Express
(Mac) instead as it also works for PC. I don't know if the signal
would be better though. So has anyone successfully installed their
wireless router running across floors and what did you do? I just want
to get some advice before I do the next step.

By the way, the wireless card I used for testing are:
* AirPort network card for Mac (but there is no external antenna for
this card)
* Dlink USB 802.11b wireless card (no external antenna neither)

Thanks guys!
Stephen