Beating a dead router horse

[3serious]

I would recommend this

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Belkin-N-Wireless-Router-F5D82334/sem/rpsm/oid/184575/catOid/-12980/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I installed this in my parents house about a year ago and they get reliable coverage all over their three story house with the router positioned on the second floor. With their old G-Router there were many dead spots.

You'll be able to take advantage of the increased range, just not the speed. Unless you want to buy a N-Wireless card.

[schmidty]

an N-Router will not give you any increase in range. It runs at the same freq. as a/b/g (2.4 and 5 Ghz) so it will have the same max range. That being said, a new N router probably has a better built in antenna then your current router, so you may actually get a better signal from the new router.

Since you can't switch out the antenna on ur current router anyway, I would go ahead and by a new N router that has a detachable antenna. If you don't get the range you want with just the new router, buy a high gain antenna. Added bonus will be, eventhough you may not have faster internet speeds, you'll have faster speed across your home network if you have other computers connected to it and need to share files :D

or as Julien pointed out, if you are tech savy enough, update the firmware to DD-WRT and see if you can boost the signal strength enough to make a difference. Make sure your current router is compatible with the firmware though (here's a list of compatible routers : http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices)