If you are usually in sight of your access point, you can prolong the experience by opening connection manager (and disconnecting) and picking

Menu/Tools/Connectivity settings...

then

Connections/<pick one>/Edit

Next/Next/Advanced/Other

change your radio output to 10mW...

Ok/Finish

If you're with me so far, you can go ahead and make two profiles: one for 100mW and another for 10mW. If no profile is checked "use without asking" you'll get to pick how you want to connect each time...

With my "Walmart-sourced" Belkin wireless G router I can go forty feet away (and through two open doors) and still have 3 of 4 bars of signal.