Time Capsule - Is it just me or has any one else had this problem? Please help!!

Question

Hi,
Greetings from Nepal!
I moved to the mac (early 2011 MBP 15" with Lion) last november after being an avid pc user for a long time. Happy with the mac, i bought the 4th gen 2TB time capsule a fortnight ago - retiring my old TP link N router in the process. Now, what i have is a problem that hasn't been addressed anywhere in the forum or anywhere in the web (atleast from what i can find).
Given that all reviews talk about the exceptional wifi range of the latest AE/TC, i have been facing problems with a very weak range. Compared to my old $60 TP link N router, i used to get an average range of 99 to a 100% (in the same room where the router is placed) - now i am getting about 80% with the newTC. Worse is the bedroom, about 15 feet away (same floor) from the said room - which  used to get about 80% range with the older router, now only gets about 40% with the new TC. The funny part is that even my  neigbour (who's using a "Tenda" G router)  projects better signal in my room than my TC. The same story continues to the ground floor (router is placed on the first floor) where the range was above 50%  has now  gone down to about 25% with my neogbours router again casting a better signal. Even when i place my mac next to the TC - i only get a maximum range of 95%.  Another problem is that an I-Phone 4S, I-Phone 3GS and two HP latops also connect to this network intermittently with very bad connections and range (last router was a lot better)
I use the "wifi explorer" & "signal" apps downloaded from the app store to measure the data and have tried everything recommended from resetting the TC to factory settings, down grading the firmware & Airport utility (5.6) to upgrading them back again (7.6.1), playing with the wireless settings but without success.
I had read that the 4th gen TC worked very well with early 2011 MBP (Anandtech) and hence bought this as a major upgrade - up from my old  60 dollar TP link router. The irony - we don't have a support centre here in Nepal and will probably have to send this to India if its a malfunction. Now my question - is this a problem with the antenna? or was the old TC's range so bad that people are now singing praises about the new TC? or can i fix this with some tweaks and tips?
Thanks a lot in advance!!
BTW - I've not even started using the Back up function as of yet due to the above problem!!!

Answer 1

I have noted in several posts as have a few of the others here,, Bob Timmons being one who has tested it, that the new one was no better than the old ones. I bought a new AEBS 5th Gen to test against all my old TC's up to Gen 3.. IMHO they are all about the same.. and my old Thomson G wireless router beats them handsomely at the other end of the house. ie the range is to be frank, pathetic. I don't have a Mac laptop to test with.. so just concluded it needs the exact match to get results like anandtech article..
I would do the following.
1. Download and use 5.6 utility.. you are lucky you are still on Lion as ML no longer can use v5 utility.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
2. Set wireless names to short, no spaces, pure alphanumeric. Set a different name to 5ghz. Its range is always short.. so don't expect too much. Make sure the output is set to 100%.. and the region is correct.
3. Lock the wireless channel for 2.4ghz.. test the available channels.. in Nepal I have no idea what is allowed.. but 1, 6, 11 are the main non-overlapping channels for most of the world. Power output maybe different though and the TP-Link might be set to higher output country.. apple do not allow that. Check what country the tp-link is set to.
4. The location of the TC must be as good as possible.. The antennas are around the 3 sides but the most important is in front.. try to place the TC so the laptop is facing the front of the TC, with nothing in between.
I am pretty sure you are never going to get the output any higher than it is now.. I still use the old wireless G Thomson signal in the other end of the house. And even running 3 TC at once (when I am repairing power supplies.. makes no difference.. they are all invisible).
Either return the TC as unsuitable.. or simply use it as a backup.
The TP-Link can be used in wan bypass to provide wireless.. just turn off the TC wireless.