Is there a way to improve wireless reception in crowded neighborhood?

We live in a condo building with dozens of wireless networks bleeding into our unit. Both of our laptops get horrible signal strength even 20-30 feet away from our router within our unit. I presume this is because there are so many other wireless routers nearby interfering with the signal. Is there anything we can do to improve the situation? We have a Netgear WNR834B wireless router and I have Intel's 4865AGN wireless chipset in my laptop (I'm not sure what my wife has in her laptop). I recently ordered a new laptop with Intel's Ultimate-N 6300 wireless chipset and I'm hoping that improves things for me. If not I'm thinking about buying a new router. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Reception is not a problem in cases like this- it's interference.
If there are really dozens of Wi-Fi networks around the only way out of this mess is switching to 5GHz band.
Since you probably have some devices that can't work on 5GHz band you should buy a dual bans router (WNDR3700 comes highly recommended)

 

As downloads said, i'd go for a dual band router and put as many devices as possible on the 5GHz band. If you can find it for cheap, the Linksys E3000 is also a good purchase. If it's at the same price as the WNDR3700, get the WNDR.

 

Indeed it is I need to add E3000/E3200 to Best of the Rest category in router buyer’s guide- the category was actually invented with E3000 on my mind.
If priced reasonably E3000 is one of the best routers around.

 

I see I can pick either of these up for under $100. Not bad! Thanks for your help.

 

With luck, you'll be able to find an E3000 for around 60-70$. Mine has been working flawlessly, bought it when it was priced at 160$ though (when is was among the top 3 routers available a couple of years ago).

 

Another nice thing about 5 Ghz is the speed is quicker as well, one of the pluses.

 

Indeed, sadly it has lower range thought

 

Hey guys I'm seeing a deal for linksys expert E3200 $70 CAD instead of 130 ...should I get it? My current linksys is pretty old and even though my neighbourhood only has like 10-12 networks (not sure if that's crowded?) I want to see what dual band is all about haha.. considering I could use both simultaneously? Need a reply quick please, because the deal doesn't last long!

 

If you're talking about this: Linksys Expert E3200 Dual Band Wireless N Router 802.11B/G/N 4PORT GbE USB Port - Linksys - E3200-CA, personally, i'd go for it. At that price it's hard to beat if you're in need of a new router. Note that to use the 5GHz band, you need 5GHz compatible equipment, i'd start by making sure my gear can operate on 5GHz if i were in your shoes.

 

Go for it.

 

Sorry for hijacking the thread but yeah the NCIX deal was what I was looking at lol. Downloads mentioned the E3200 so I looked it up and yeah...what do you know there's a sale! Well, after checking with a few devices most of them seem to support 5GHz connection (even my smartphone), and will be confirmed when I get this router. Thanks for the responses

 

Is this the laptop you pre-ordered, with the Intel 2230 B/G/N wireless card?

MYTHLOGIC :: Configure Your System

Did you upgrade the wireless card? If not, you won't be getting a card capable of doing the 5 GHz band. Look for the Advanced 6235 802.11 A/G/N.

DragonRider

 

Oh yes I did upgrade the card to the 6235(whew!), as I thought I would need 802.11 A/G/N. Maybe I should include that in my sig