That sounds about right for an mediocre router.
Lets do some tests, run vistumbler for 5mins and post a screenshot.
Its important to understand that wireless is shared medium and must take turns with everything on that wireless spectrum even devices that aren't on your network.
God damn the world is small.
Yeah, I got out in late 06 on medical and went back home. Now I am doing IT work, little bit of everything. In my spare time I am writing a Wireless Access Point Database.
Smoking is my way of relaxing now, since I cant really drink anymore.
I still have a print out of our class picture also, but its under a bunch of boxes, will have to dig it out.
I'll take a guess that you are still in the AF?
I have not use this one but Acrylic WiFi could work on a Win8 device:
The old rusty trusty InSSIDer will work if you are willing to invest in a license as this product is no longer free.
VisStumbler supposedly supports Win8 although it doesn't look very ideal for a mobile device:
NetSurveyor would be a down and dirty free WiFi Scanner but only seems to be supported up to Win7.
Try a tool like InSSIDer http://www.metageek.net/ or a free windows one I found the other day was vistumbler http://www.vistumbler.net/
That way you can see if anyone else around you is on the same channel or adjacent channel and causing interference.
I also saw another post that mentioned they experienced the same issue as you and they put Tomato or DD-WRT variant on that Asus router because of that issue.
Personally I don't care how "premium" consumer routers get, they're still consumer grade. Just like desktops and laptops. True business class is built better and works better!
Will do. Yes I prefer RSSI in dBm also. I just tried to download InSSIDer Home for Windows and it seems the program is now $19.99? I found a free alternative called vistumbler on sourceforge that was free. UI is a little rough compared to others, but it works fine and gives RSSI in dBm and also shows channels. http://www.vistumbler.net/
Make sure you didn't fuck up attaching the antenna? Signal strength is pretty crap. If the card works with http://www.vistumbler.net/ can you see if there is a ton of noise? or just crap signal.
Also, antennas send+receive in a dougnut shape, make sure the doughnuts align.
dealextreme has a bunch of pretty awesome usb wifi adapters for cheap. But it will take a few weeks to get them. I've ordered a bunch of these for clients for the past few years, all flawless.
http://dx.com/p/usb-54mbps-802-11b-g-wifi-lan-adapter-with-detachable-antenna-24886