I had the same issue with my Aspire V5.  I had to be basically on top of the router to get a connection. 

i tried downloading all of the drivers and it was no help.  What i did to fix this problem.

1. Removed the 12 or so screws from the bottom of the laptop and removed the plastic case.

2.  Located the wifi card

3.  Made sure that both the black and white wires were connected to the wifi card. (in my case the white wire was completely disconnected from the card, i reattached it to the opposite prong adjacent where the black was connected)

4.  Put all screws back in and powered up the laptop. 

5. Went upstairs approximately 30 feet from my router and tried to connect to the internet.

6.  Connected no problem and now my laptop works perfectly.

I am not sure if it was never connected or worked its way loose.  I just purchased the laptop refurbished 2 weeks ago and was never able to connect to the internet at a distance of more then 2 feet from the router.  

My guess would be that it worked itself loose during shipping.  One thing that i did notice is that when i connected the white wire back to the card it didnt make a very solid reassuring connection .  I would of expected it to snap in place but rather it felt as if it was just sitting on top of the connection loosely.  I plan to remedy this by placing a small piece of electrical tape over the connection to secure it a little better if it works itself loose again.