Living on the edge of wireless

Hi, i've just moved to a campus where my flat is right on the edge of a wireless signal and as such, extremly unreliable. Does anyone know of any good ways for me to get a better signal? I dont have access to the routers/access points as they are set up by the uni, but I think they are the Cisco Aironet 1240AG Series.

I am running a Sony Vaio FR315M with a Netgear WG511T and windows xp home sp2.
I have tried a access point with a repeater function but it didn't work as I have to connect through a proxy server and it didnt let me set anything like that up.
Does anyone have any ideas how I can get a better signal? I'm sick of hanging out of my window to get my email!
cheers

 

Find a Wireless client that can be fitted with external Antenna. Get a Hi dbi External Antenna and point it to the source.

Example to High Power Card that can be fitted with Antenna, http://www.buffalotech.com/products/product-detail.php?productid=110&categoryid=29

Example for an Antenna, http://www.buffalotech.com/products/product-detail.php?productid=82&categoryid=8

 

http://www.fab-corp.com sells some nice antenna's