Intel Centrino Advanced n-6200

I just purchased the XPS 15z with one of the main reasons being that the new Intel wireless adaptor (the n-6200) appears to offer the potential of a greater range for connections and thus more flexibility to use it around the house. When I powered up the XPS 15z on the day I received it (alongside my Dell Studio) I could not get an internet connection and stupidly thought  there was an iaause with the driver or something else. So I spent the normal couple of hours trying to get the right department in Dell to see what the problem was. It was only when I went into the room where my hub was that suddenly I got a connection. So it seems that instead of the n-6200 having up to twice the range of the previous adaptors it has a worse range than the previous bog standard adaptors. I cannot bear trying to get through to Dell Support in India to try and get an asnwer to this (they are unfailingly polite) but you always seem to have a poor connection. Is there something I can do with the the adaptor settings or anything at all to have a better range - certainly on a par with the previous adaptors and really it should be better than this or have Dell (and Intel) misrepresented what this chip can do or are there special situations where this range effect just does not happen and it is worse? Any help would really be appreciated.