Okay, here's the deal:
I thought that my download speeds of about 5Mbps (as opposed to the 16 the router claimed) was due to Sky's ****ery. Now it turns out it's the homeplugs I've been using. So I plan to stop using those, but this leaves me with a problem of what to do next. My room is on the opposite side of the house to the master socket where, ideally, the router would be plugged in. I bought an extension cable to move it from the bedroom it was in to the living room so the 802.11b router Sky provided us with reaches my room. Still a bit patchy.
I've bought a 802.11n router which should be here in the next couple of days with a better range/better wireless speed but since I don't have a wireless card in my desktop, I'm pretty screwed if I want decent speeds. Short of buying a 20m ethernet cable and dragging it through the length of the house, what do you guys suggest.
TL;DR: Need ideas on how to get decent speeds in my room. I don't have a wireless desktop, homeplugs are slowing me down dramatically, and I really don't want to have 20m of ethernet cable running through the house.