Router 2704N Wifi range, alternative equipment?

[#1]

Dear friends, I was just connected today and plugged in the 2704N, coming from an EE Brightbox 1.

I am surprised how poor the wifi is, two bedroom apartment and in the kitchen the signal on my android is down to 1/5 bars (-85dBm according to an app)

For comparison the BrightBox signal was 5/5 in the kitchen (straight line from the modem about 12 feet.)

I can only get full signal 40cm from the modem, past that point it starts dropping.

Should I assume it is a faulty modem or is it just like that? Is there a modem-router on the market I can buy to rectify this?

Thanks for reading.

[#2]

The wifi performance of these routers is dire. Your cheapest option is to go onto Ebay and buy a BT Smarthub 6. These have excellent wifi performance. You need the FTTC vesion. This is by far the most available and is identified by having four yellow LAN sockets see here. https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Smart-Hub-6-Variants-and-Performance/td-p/1504366

Setting instructions do need tidying up but this should help https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband/BT-Home-Hub-6-Smart-Hub-on-PlusNet/m-p/1349153#M306720. Just post on here if you get stuck.