erratic wireless connection (configuration mistake?)

[Charles Blair <c-blair@Illinois.edu>]

   I am running a dual-boot debian (wheezy/sid)/windows 8 on
a 3-months-old Toshiba desktop.  Sometimes my wireless
connection (from Debian) stops working after an hour or so,
at other times the connection is not established at all.
When running windows, the desired connection with a LAN
using the access name "JF Basement" seems to be working
consistently.

   I think that, during installation, I failed to supply "JF
Basement" as the desired network connection, and that debian
is temporarily getting and then losing access to some other
network.  In the same location as the desktop, a laptop
running debian 6.0.6 is working consistently.

   The /etc/networks file on the laptop:

default		0.0.0.0
loopback	127.0.0.0
link-local	169.254.0.0
JF Basement     50.129.94.204

   The /etc/networks file on the desktop:

default		0.0.0.0
loopback	127.0.0.0
link-local	169.254.0.0

   Thanks for advice (as simple as possible) on how to fix
this.