Thanks top everybody. The consensus so far is that my Desktop’s WiFi antenna is loose/improperly installed. I will investigate that when I get the geekterone (that’s geek + testosterone) to open up the computer and fiddle with that stuff.

However, while I was sweating and cursing, my wife noticed that there’s a cable line in this office/walk-in closet. So, I simply moved the cable modem in here. Attached the desktop by ethernet straight to the base station and I’m golden. Much appreciation for everybody who offered to help.

Note: I will be reprinting this message in the original post too.