Windows 7: Additional AP connection quality

Equipment in use:

Netgear Wireless Cable Gateway CG3100D
Belkin Wireless Pre-N
2x Vista Laptops
2x Windows7 Laptops



Internet connection comes into the Netgear but the wireless range is not enough to cover the whole house. Initially I bought a pair of plug adaptors (use the power lines in your house as ethernet) to get the connection up to the office. This worked great, no problems at all. I now have more than one networked device in the office however and I didn't want to keep buying plug adaptors so I decided to use the Belkin router I had lying around as an access point. Set it up and thought everything was working fine, the computers in the office had internet access, printers were visible across the network etc etc. (For clarity over what I have done, I set the belkin to an ip on the same subnet but outside the DHCP range of the netgear, then disable all DHCP and NAT functions on the Belkin by setting it to 'Access Point Mode')

Problems have emerged however. First problem is that the connection to the Belkin seems to be 'patchy' for lack of a better word. Windows is reporting that the connection quality is cycling between poor/fair/excellent/no connection despite the router being only a foot away from the laptop. Another, also Vista laptop seems to have no issues in this respect. The difference between the two then being that the laptop having issues is also just within range of the Netgear router (it uses 802.11n, the second laptop only 802.11g).

The internet speed itself seems to be fine, however it is not possible to make Skype calls whilst connected through the Belkin. I can hear the other person clearly, but they cannot hear anything I am saying, I am at a loss to why this is.

If someone more knowledgeable than I could help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

Any ideas?

With the Belkin set to access point mode is it connected to a wired switch?

Its connected to the netgear router/modem. So cable coming from one of the standard RJ-45 ports on the netgear into a standard RJ-45 on the belkin (not the uplink wan port as I had mistakenly been doing when I first tried to set this up!).