Probably preaching to the converted, but for those who haven't yet considered the powerline adapter solution to certain networking problems, as proposed above by MacBoero and Shiny side down, they really are tops. Work straight out of the box, though a bit fiddly (in our case anyway) if you want to add password security. While of course not for you if you take the lappy out into the garden to check emails, they're a gem if you can work with a trailing cat 5 cable plugged into one.
Just a thought.