Wireless Networking woes

Adus

So in February I moved to a new condo and my room appears to be somewhat of a dead zone for our router's wireless signal. I'm not sure how this is since it's really not far at all. The router is also less than a year old so it's not that it is aging and needs to be replaced. This is the model: http://home.cisco.com/en-apac/products/routers/E2500/

Essentially I get 2 bars (a "Fair" connection) most of the time. I don't think it's my computer's wireless antenna either because my wifi for my Mp3 player will be at 2 bars inside the room then jump up to full if I walk out. I tried buying a wireless extender and just putting it in my room but that's really no different. I feel like there's interference of some sort which is the actual issue.

It seems decent most of the time and I've been kinda putting up with that but it'll essentially shrivel up and die if I try to watch Netflix and this is becoming the last straw as it keeps failing while I'm trying to watch Breaking Bad.

Running an Ethernet cable to the router just isn't practical and my roommate doesn't want that. There looks to be a Cable outlet in this room without a connector in it but I'm not sure what good it would be even if there was one. Would the cable company even let us have two modems?

My roommate uses her computer on the network as well, also wireless, though she's a lot closer to the router and doesn't seem to have issues. Occasionally my other roommate will use her laptop or the Xbox right near the router but not terribly often.

Here is a very shitty quick overview of what the apartment looks like: http://imgur.com/6Cpxr although the scale is off and it's probably a lot smaller than this makes it look. I don't think the router is much more than like 15 meters away. It really shouldn't be that much of an issue, right?

Are there any decent solutions?

Malgaras

They can be a bit pricey, but I would say in your case, you might try using a power line adapter. The abridged version if you are unfamiliar with them is that you plug them into power outlets in your house and it runs your network through the existing power lines (It doesn't effect your electricity or anything). It should do what you are looking for, although you'll probably have to drop a fair chunk of change on a pair.

Grobian

From looking at that picture your problem is likely electronics in the kitchen (microwave).

You have a dualband router. Do you use the 2.4 or the 5GHz band? Whichever, try the other one. (you can set up a second network with that router, so your roommates wouldn't even have to change anything on their end). If that still doesn't work, then you can still look into ethernet over the power lines.

Adus

I figured the microwave was part of the problem but does it still cause interference even when not in use?

As far as which band I'm using, I'm not entirely sure at the moment. I'm at work so I can't check immediately. I seem to remember last time I checked it was set to use both... Perhaps I was misinterpreting it. As far as setting up an entire new network with the other band, I can't say I'm totally sure how to do that but I suppose I can look into it when I get home.

The power line adapters seem like a decent alternative. Does anyone have experience with them? Are they reliable? Any brand or model in particular that you'd recommend? The price I'm willing to be flexible with because I'm really getting tired of this flaky connection.

Thanks for the help so far.

Dr. Frenchenstein

I have powerline adapters, and they are the tits. netflix and streaming video run extremely well (though some of my streaming movie files have had some sound issues, like it's out of sync on my 360 upstairs, but fine on the PS3 connected to the router).

I'm assuming your apartment is on your own circuit, like you have a separate power bill/meter/etc? that is the only way i could see an issue.

Pantshandshake

I also use a set of powerline adapters. I don't remember the model off the top of my head, but they're NetGear and were probably $80 or so. They work fantastically.

In running through Amazon for a few minutes, it looks like you'll want to spend somewhere between 70 and 100 on a set.