It seems that my apartment is in the middle of a sea of routers. There are 34 that I can see right now. The median channel is 6, but the mode, by far, is channel 11 (14 routers are on channel 11) followed by channel 6 (9 routers are on channel 9).
My router only ever reports up to around 60% signal strength, followed closely by another router at 50%.
I'm broadcasting on channel 11 right now, and the router with the 2nd strongest signal strength is running on channel 6. Sometimes a different router is 2nd place, also running on channel 11.
My question is: Is there really something I can do about this? I've tried many things:
Switching to another channel. Trust me, I've tried every channel (yeah, even though a lot of them overlap), for a day each. Some are worse than others, which is why I settled on channel 11, but my signal still drops.
I've tried changing routers. I'm using a MediaLink router right now. I used to use a WRT54GL, but one dropped more often than my MediaLink.
I tried an amplifier, but it didn't help.
I tried a repeater, still nothing.
Does anyone know whether a dual-band router will matter? How do I check whether my MacBook Pro will support the extra channels?
I might just be in a terrible wifi situation, but I'd love to hear any creative advice!