mbp drops wifi connection, doesn't automatically pick it up again

I'm running the latest Snow Leopard on a 3,1 MBP that's a little over 4 years old. The other machines in the house are connected to the router via ethernet, but this one uses wifi. I have a Netgear router that doesn't broadcast its SSID and uses WPA2-PSK [AES] for security. Since the SSID isn't broadcast, I have to manually connect to wifi on relevant devices. I make sure that this is the router automatically connected when wifi is turned on. Network prefs show this router on the list of preferred networks.

In the past, at various locations using various routers, most of which have been Netgear ones, this has worked fine. But suddenly, this computer drops its connection now and then and I have to manually reconnect. This is a PITA, obviously.

I have a first generation iPod Touch that, at this location with this router, ALWAYS requires manual login to the wifi network. This has never been necessary in the past, only since I started using this router.

Any ideas as to how to do something about this so that it stays connected and, more importantly, automatically chooses this router without my having to manually log in? The MBP is the main issue here, though it would be nice to get the iPod doing this, too.

 

I let the router broadcast the SSID and that seems to be helping, including with the iPod Touch. I realize that lots of the router's security measures are of little value, but I like the idea of being at least a little under the radar. Better that it works, though. My other measures should be more than enough. I limit wireless access to IP addresses that I have entered, so that alone ought to make something of a difference.

Could be that the router's bad, too. It's a Netgear WNR1000 v2, provided by my ISP at no charge. Probably wouldn't be a terrible idea to buy my own if it makes things work better. Any suggestions?