wireless network issue - out of my hands?

[inflames988]

I recently installed a wireless network at a family friend's house, and unfortunately it seems to be having some issues. I usually buy off newegg, and pick brands that i know are good, but I only got 30 minutes notice on this one, and didn't have time to order things ahead of time. I went to circuit city and picked up a wireless router by netgear (802.11b, they didnt want anything too powerful/expensive) and a netgear card. from my experience, netgear makes good stuff. The first issue was a bad connection on the desktop PC. Solved it easily enough - I asked if there was any metal beneath it, and they pointed out a giant metal heating duct (6+ feet wide!!) running underneath it. It runs right above the router, which is, unfortunately, confined to the basement since comcast installed it there. It seems like the laptops up in the bedrooms are having connection issues too, and they want me to come look at it again. I don't know where to start. They don't need anyhting super high speed, but just need a constant connection that doesnt falter ( I know it can be tough with wireless networking). As was said before, the router is stuck all the way in the basement, which is the only reason these issues are even occuring. Any thoughts of what I can do? I plan to bring my laptop (to diagnose wireless problems), my longest ethernet cord (to move the router to a different side of the basement and see if that helps), and maybe even an old 802.11b router I have laying around to see if it gets any signal (dont even have to hook it up to the net, you can just plug it in and see the signal around the house).

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Just hoping I can fix it and that its not out of my hands....thanks.

EDIT: threw a couple of NIC's in my bag as well, im not sure if the issues they are having with internet connection relate to the pc that has a wired connection...

[inflames988]

don't know if this has anything to do with it, but i used WPA encryption as opposed to WEP on their network, so that they could use an easy-to-remember password. maybe ill switch to WEP for them and use a home phone number or something.

[glc]

WPA is better than WEP, both from a security and connectivity standpoint.

[inflames988]

anyone have any ideas as far as getting the signal to work better? im guessing it will either be something simple, either that or they will just need to get a stronger router to get the network working in all parts of the house.