Finally found out why the WiFi at my house is so shoddy - my mum (who lectures computing at university, including mobile computing and security), has the network hide itself every ten minutes 'for security reasons', which ofc none of my wireless-capable devices (laptop and phone) are either set up to handle, or not able to handle it in the first case (same goes for anyone who visits).
So, whenever it hides its SSID, we lose connection until it appears again, or if we're lucky we can occasionally connect before then.
Can't wait 'til I have my own place. Though chances are that won't happen until after a year from now.