My range was bad w/mine also. I couldn't pick up in some areas of the house(porch, upstairs etc.) Bought an extended range router on Ebay for about $30 and now it works from everywhere. I think these things have inherently weak wifi.
What if you are elsewhere other than your house, say picking up Wi-Fi from Starbucks ?
I have yet to try at any free hotspots but have to wonder if they intended you to use 3G when you take this outside and used a cheap NIC