WRT54G in a wireless saturated neighborhood

Question

I have a WRT54G that is having trouble staying connected after we moved to our new apartment. The neighborhood has tons of routers in the area (discovered by scanning with a software package recommended by a friend) and all channels are being used by other routers. It works fine during the day on weekdays but once the kids in the neighborhood start getting home from school and on the weekends I get disconnected frequently. Since it is pretty much always during peak hours I'm figuring my router is having trouble picking my data out of the air when everyone else has their signals on the same frequencies. It just "loses" the signal.
Is there any way I can change the settings to help the router stay connected? Also, how do you know the best way to aim the antennas for best signal?
Hardware involved:
WRT54G v2
Sony VAIO laptop about 1 year old
Sony VAIO laptop about 2 years old

Answer 1

I don't use any specific software to measure signal strength, just what came with the wireless card.  Most of the wireless cards that I have seen come with the ability to display all the network router signals that they find.   For each system, they list the SSID, wireless type (a,b,g), whether the system is open or encrypted, and how many "bars of signal strength" (usually 1 to 5) they are receiving.  If this software did not come with your system, perhaps Sony (or whoever you got your wireless card from) has upgraded software available.
You have not mentioned yet the following critically important information:
1) What type of wireless cards are in your computers?  (a, b, g)
2) How far away are the computers from the router?
3) How many walls and floors are you trying to go through?  Are they concrete-rebar?  Drywall?
4) If you position your wireless computers in the same room with your router, do you still get dropped connections?
Before you toss out your wireless G, there are a few other options:
1) make sure you have the latest software drivers for your wireless cards, and the latest firmware for your router.
2) If all your wireless devices are wireless g, set your router to "g only".  If they are all wireless b, set your router to "b only".
3) radio waves propogate perpendicular to the antena.  Imagine a straight line between your router and your wireless computer.  Orient the antena perpendicular to this line.
4) Even more important than orienting the antena is to minimize the distance and the number of walls between the router and the wireless computers.  Sometimes eliminating a wall is more important than getting the router a few feet closer.  Also, try to move your router away from your other computer equipment.
When you position your router, imagine a straight line beween your router and your wireless computers, and try to position the router to minimize the amount of building materials along that line.
5) If placing your wireless computers in the same room with your router corrects all your problems, then the best solution would be to add a wireless access point to your system.  This would need to be wired to your router.  The main advantage of adding a wireless access point is that you can place it in the same room with your wireless computers.  This will give you maximum signal strength.
6)  The best channels to set your router to are usually 1, 6, or 11.  But other channel may also work.  Don't be afraid to experiment.  Also, don't forget, the interference that you are experiencing may NOT be from your neighbor's wireless routers, it might be from their wireless phones!  (i.e. Checking your neighbors wireless router channels only gives you a starting point.)
7) Make sure you are not interfering with your own signal.  Any device that puts out radio signals, especially in the 2.4 GHz range, can potentially interfere with your router and cause line drops.  Typical culprits are 2.4 GHz wireless phones.  For more info on this topic, please see my previous post at:
http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Routers&message.id=9369&query.id=2...