Networks Another wireless signal strength thread

I've got a fairly old (year or two) belkin 54G router and network card, and I'm about 20 feet away from it, just down the hall, and am getting a signal strength of 'very low' that keeps dropping out and speed usually 1 or 2mbps. I can't move my router any closer, I'd rather not spend money (or as little as possible), and my router is immune to aluminum. Like, I tried building one of those aluminum dish things (there's some good instructions for on on hackaday) and it didn't do anything. So, I wrapped both the router antennas and the PCI card antennas in aluminum...didn't affect the signal at all. No local stores stock F-Connectors, and no internet stores that I can find will allow an order of just one. I tried connecting my TV rabbit ear antenna to the wifi card (figuring there are TV signals in the 2.4GHz range) and it didn't work at all. I'm out of ideas. Anyone got any more?
I think the problem might be my PCI card, or possibly this comp, because my bro's laptop (when he's home from college, which he isn't now...that thing screws my signal even more) gets a strong signal everwhere, even right next to my comp...
Oh, and there is absolutely no electronic equipment at all between these two. Possibly some wiring in the walls, but not too much 'cause this is all on the second floor, which also means there probably aren't many heating ducts or things like that. We do have a 2.4GHz phone, but I tried disconnecting that with no effect. I've also tried chaning channels, turning on and off protected mode, and toggling the turbo mode, with no effect.