I would think that any name brand wireless router will work fine. I have a DSL modem supplied by the phone company, and a 4-port Belkin Pre-N wireless router I bought separately a couple of years ago. The incoming signal goes to the modem, and then an Ethernet cable goes to the router. Hard wired devices plug into the ports in the back of the modem via Ethernet cable. My router can handle 4 hard-wired devices, and 32 wireless devices. I have 4 PCs hooked up to it (1 wired, 3 wireless), a Roku box (wireless), and a printer (wireless). The only thing to keep in mind about cable is that speeds can vary depending on how many people in the neighborhood are online at any given time. DSL is a constant speed, and since mine is 3 Mbps, that's enough for me. Have you checked to see whether your DSL supplier can provide a higher speed? Last year, my speed was 1.5 Mbps and I asked if they had anything higher in my area. They said they had 3.0 available for the same price. When I asked why they hadn't just bumped up my speed, they said they were only allowed to change my account if I called to request and authorize it first! I said: Who wouldn't want twice the speed for the same price? They said they just wanted to be sure this was something I wanted! At any rate, 10 seconds later I had twice the speed. Lastly, since you're mixing PCs and Macs on your system, I don't know if that would cause any problems. I have have friends with Macs who visit and they can get on my system (when I give them my security code) with no problem. However, if you are switching providers, you should ask first if there could be any problems.

zep516 - Now that you mention it I have at times (but not at the same time my laptop stopped working on the porch) had modem failures and comcast told me I probably needed to have it replaced. But it works fine for about three weeks and then goes down. So i've been lazy and haven't taken it in to swap it out. Comcast isn't my fav company to deal with. pkponder - I have wracked my brain and the only other thing that I know of that has changed is my ADT system got a trouble light a few weeks ago, maybe around the same time, but ADT told me that checking their records, they haven't had a signal from my home in a year... ADT is also not my favorite company since they continued to bill me. But the security system is wired not wireless, if that makes a difference. It is connected to my Comcast phone service though. mikie - Well, I do have an older, refurbished laptop so that could be possible. There is no way to check the internal reception, is there? And windows update has messed me up on other minor settings before. I will work on the things I have control over like the modem and the ethernet cable and see what happens. You guys (and gal) are awesome.

The router you have doesn't have any Ethernet ports? If not, you need another router or switch (whatever you can find cheapest) and add it to the mix. That way you can shut off the WiFi at 11 p.m. and still have a wired connection. While it's not my business how you choose to run your household, I wouldn't be spending money to keep my kids in line. My rules would be pretty simple - first offense, loose the device for a week, second offense loose the device for two weeks, third offense donation to a worthwhile charity. I'm sure there's a family at the local Ronald McDonald House that would appreciate the use of a laptop or Xbox.

I finally found the Set-Up Assistant CD for the Belkin router. I installed and it had the same name of what I named the router back when I had XP. Towards the end of installation, Belkin was trying to connect to the Internet and it couldn't, providing me with a knowledge base of questions and answers and a Belkin Support phone #. However, I noticed my Vista laptop in the other room was able to connect with a perfect signal. I called Belkin, got a man who I couldn't understand, I tried, through, but when he was wanting to start exploring my computer I declined. I called my ISP and they wanted to charge me $69 because it was a router they didn't support. In the past, whenever my computer wasn't acting right I've always rebooted. Well, I rebooted this time and now everything is working perfectly. I think I'm going to email Belkin and let them know that this may help alot of people, a simple reboot after installation.