Sorry to ask what may seem a silly question, are you sure the wireless is switched on on the hub and your not actually connecting to somebody elses homehub in the same block of flats
If your sure of this do you have access to another wireless enabled laptop, if you can borrow one from a friend may be worth seeing if that does any better, or borrowing another wireless router and trying that. If you are only able to connect when in same room there does seem to be a problem with either the laptop or the hub and trying with either changed would show which one has the problem