laptop needs to be in line with router to connect to wifi?

[dan]

Your laptop's WiFi network adapter may have lost it's range. Some have a internal antenna connection that may have come loose.

As far as wireless range goes,

Wireless signals are affected by many factors including distance, wall density, electrical interference, directional antenna range, etc.

All of these factors will affect your actual wireless range. As wireless connection quality varies the connection speeds are renegotiated. The connection may start at 300 Mbps and end up at less than 20 Mbps or drop entirely.

Just because a particular wireless router model works good at one location does not guarantee that it will have similar performance in a different location due to variances in the factors listed above.

You should try to centrally locate your wireless router or gateway up high and away from dense walls and electrical and 2.4 GHz wireless interference such as microwave ovens, cordless phones, baby monitors, etc.

If this doesn't help you have a couple of options,

1. Buy a external USB WiFi adapter for the laptop. These are relatively inexpensive ($10-$20). Some are high gain with adjustable antennas, some are ultra small, and can be left in a laptop's USB slot.

2. Buy a WiFi Extender. These plug in and regenerate WiFi signals to increase the wireless range of your router. The TP-LINK TL-WA850RE is the least expensive at around $30.

Good Luck.