Before anyone jumps in to tell me that my problem is unlikely to have anything to do with the actual proximity of one computer to another hear me out.
I currently live at a college that is designed with 2 floors in the shape of a large H, on the top floor there are two corridors on each side of the building, one towards the front of the building and one towards the back.
For a while now we have been able to connect computers together over the wireless, generally just for things like playing games between computers, however we have recently realized that there is a direct correlation between the corridor a computer is in and the computers able to connect to it.
For example, if I where to host a game of something then everyone not in my corridor would be able to connect, everyone who is in my corridor would need to pick up their computer, carry it into any of the other corridors, connect, then come back.
The wireless works based on a connection from a building a short distance away which is connected to a switch, this switch is in turn connected to two wireless access points, one on either side of the house.
At first I thought that this problem could have potentially been caused simply because we where using the same wireless access point, however this cannot be the case because it does not require moving to the other side of the building to connect, simply over into the other corridor, which uses the same access point.
Other info:
The problem has nothing to do with OS, the same problem occurs on debian linux, ubuntu linux, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. (not sure about any Mac OS)
All computers are able to connect to each other when in the correct physical location, it is only when nearby that the computers cannot connect.
If anyone has any idea what could be causing this problem or how to fix it please let me know.
Thanks