I have no problems with reception on my powerbook, i don't live in a very big house, but it works fine in any room, and outside too 😀
Also, i've set it up on the back seat of my car while driving, running KisMAC (wi-fi detector software) and have it find networks on fairly wide roads, even in fairly busy enviroments
Note: Powerbook is on back seat with the screen off just recording all detected networks, without any interaction with me 🙂