Dropped Wireless Signals

My family uses a WRT160Nv3 Router for our home. The router has been going strong for the 2 1/2 years we've had it. Starting two months ago, I started experiencing connection issues, thinking my Wireless USB Adapter was having software issues, I reinstalled the software about two weeks ago. That whole day, the connection issue disappeared, then after that the connection issue was back. I would loose my connection for about two minutes, then my Wireless USB adapter would pick up the signal again for a random amount of time again before loosing the connection again.
Then tonight my dad starts to experience the same thing on his laptop, drawing my attention to the router itself. My dad is obviously frustrated and said he will be looking into upgrading to a new Dual-Band router. My questions are:
1) Is the Router the main cause of the connection issues?
2) If so, is there a fix or is getting a new router the only solution?
3) Is a Dual-Band router worth the money?

Thank you in advance!

Hello,

Make sure that you have the latest firmware for your router, you may download it from Linksys site. Test the connection after, if the issue persist please see the next task.

Also, it can be an interference issue as well, let's find out....
Install and run Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector.
Click on the 'Show Networks' to display all wireless networks on the xirrus icon on your desktop if you have one running in a corner. Tap the Printscreen key on your keyboard, open up Paint then choose Edit from the Menu and select Paste, then SAVE it. Upload and attached it here.

It was kind of hard to understand what you were looking for since I saw no "Show Networks" tab on the program, is this the screenshot you needed?

That is exactly what I am looking for, thanks.

You seems to have an excellent signal from what I can tell. Have you tried locating the latest firmware for your router? I had a similar issue as yours a couple of weeks ago. I went to Linksys site and I found a new firmware, I downloaded and manually installed it and it resolved my issue.

My Router is running Firmware Version 3 (thus the "v3" at the end of my router name) which was released 07/28/2010 and was also the last Firmware release for my router, so the Firmware is good.

Can you please logon to your router's setting, it shd be on the main page and visible, you'll see the router's firmware, let's verify?

Here is the Router's info and something I saw happen in the program you referred me to.

It think that there's a newer version:

Ver.3.0.03 Build 3, yours is Ver.3.0.02

http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/s...T160N/download

I'll get to updating the firmware sometime soon in the future (hopefully), the only time the router isn't being used is between 4:00AM - 5:30AM, so it's a small window.