I've asked several tech savy people & done a lot of review reading about my pending purchase of a wireless router and, to be honest, I haven't seen much of a pattern develop in the answers. I know we have a few tech savy folks here and thought it couldn't hurt to ask for your opinion(s).

So here's the skinny. I expect to have several devices connected at the same time and one of those devices will be a game console. I have a cable broadband connection at 12 Mbps. I would like to have the wife and kids screaming about network drops as rarely as possible. I am guessing that occassions will be fairly regular that find the wife on the computer shopping/paying bills, the daughter doing homework on the internet or downloading music & the boys playing Wii and/or PS3. I have a single story home (<3000 sq. ft.) in the suburbs.

At the moment I'm leaning toward the D-Link DGL-4500.

That's about it so let me know what you think! Thanks in advance for the help!

Well, in case you didn't know, those 12 Mbps - though huge by my standards - will be divided between all of your computers, leading to a fairly limited download speed for everyone.

Is it possible to run the game console unsecure via wire connection and run the network secure wireless? Would that work and keep others off the net?

I would have to move the cable modem to another room but it is possible. I had hoped to keep the cable modem, wireless router & all in one copy/print/fax machine in my office. I'll have to put a little thought into creative ways of getting a wired connection to the PS3 although that still leaves the Wii on wireless.

Also, I do realize that several devices are going to eat up the bandwidth fairly quickly. Right now I'm just on my broadband provider's standard 12 Mbps level of service. I do have a 20 Mbps option available but I haven't checked the cost.

Linysys (Cisco) WRT54GL (you want the model with the "L" on the end - other similarly named router models are NOT the same, nowhere near the same).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190

$52 (they don't show you the price until you put it into your cart).

Excellent router as it comes. Double-excellent if you load third-party firmware on it (DD-WRT, Tomato, etc.)

There's a reason it comes with over 2300 customer reviews and has a five star rating at NewEgg!

I know the WRT54GL is the F150 of the router world. I just wasn't sure how well it would fare in an evironment with several concurrent connections. In this case I am the wrong flavor of computer nerd.

I don't know about the max number of connections on the WRT54GL. The most I've done at one time is four wired, plus two wireless.

The other bad thing about wireless routers is the way in which the signal is broadcast. The signal goes up and out like water out of a fountain. A PC next to the router may have trouble getting a signal, while one farther away gets a great signal.

Consider centralizing the router in your home.

AWESOME Router. I've had one for years, set my parents up with one, etc it's pretty much the most common / best basic home router out there.

I've retired my WRT54GL to backup as I've replaced it with a Cradlepoint Router. It's made for hooking in broadband air cards as well as normal WAN connections... Is wireless, and even has a battery / 12v adapter for it to use when traveling in the RV. Pretty much #1 for it's purpose, but OMG it's pricey compared to basic routers. So far it's worked AWESOME, and I can't complain.

You shouldn't have any problems with the D-Link DGL-4500. My ISP sent me a D-Link DIR 615 + D-Link DWA-140 USB WLAN adapter for free for testing purposes to test it's wireless capabilities. The D-link was fast and stable on Wireless N so no complaints.

Personally though I would go with a something like the Vigor 2820Vn Series ADSL Router Firewall if I were to replace my Draytek Vigor 2100VG if it failed.

http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2820.html

Its more expensive than other basic routers but provides wireless 3G connectivity and the possibility to load balance DSL and ADSL connections and even dial-up using POTS if your DSL, ADSL or 3G connection becomes compromised. It even has a USB connection for NAS if not using your 3G USB wireless dongle. It also has VOIP connectivity to allow the addition of 2 virtual telephone lines.

+1 on the D-Link. As a network tech, I have quite a bit of experience with wireless networks. I haven't touched a LinkSys model that DIDN'T give me problems. They can be extremely fussy. D-Link and Netgear have been the easiest to set up for home use.

Linksys WRT54G.

It's all we use here at work, it's what I use at home, it's what I install when people ask me for help with a home network.
Set, forget.

Same here, WRT54G at home and customer sites.

Apple Time Capsule Extreme 802.11N.

Fast... Reliable... Expandable (with range extenders that actually work, contrary to Linksys) and 1 terabyte HDD of automatic back-up.

What he said.
I've been using a WRT54G for about 6 years now, and an 802.11b Linksys before that (which is still going strong at my old employer's office as their QUAL environment router(Damn, they owe me a router!)).

Most devices will do the trick, although N is not yet worth the premium you will pay for it.

Jumping into this a bit late, but if you need to hookup a game console or DVR that doesn't work well with encrypted networks, check out one of the Ethernet over Power adapters. We use this for our Tivo and it provides good bandwidth and you can leave your wireless network encrypted. I have used them in several larger homes where one side of the house was at extreme wifi range from another.