To begin with it will depend on what country you live in. Some countries such as South Korea live, breathe and eat broadband internet and you can get top-notch service and bandwidth as a standard issue and fairly cheaply, actually I think the government there even subsidise it in some cases. In the middle of the spectrum is Australia where you can have whatever you want if you are prepared to pay through the nose for it. The huge landmass and small population largley being the cause. Other countries, probably most when you think about it, don't have broadband at all and would be lucky to have any kind of internet access.
After you work out what you can gain access to, you then choose the technology based on what is available. As an example, in my case I have ADSL because I want an always-on connection that is genuine broadband at a reasonable price. I'd love Cable because it has unlimited bandwidth (upto 8 Mbit) but I live in a flat which means that, in my case, Cable is generally not available. ADSL also has many limitations which can affect your access to it such as multiplexing of your telephone service (Where your line is split into 'channels' and shared with other phone subscribers) and the distance you are from the exchange.
Other fast connections include ISDN and Satellite. ISDN is old tech and very reliable and proven technology but it is slow. Satellite is faster than ISDN but slower than ADSL and more expensive than both. The advantage with Satellite is that it can be used anywhere.
As for your choice of router, it comes down to personal choice as Parabrat said. It's no different to GM v's Ford. You just pick what you like the best but consider the functions too. Don't buy a router that doesn't have a firewall. They are all fairly expensive so you may as well have one that has everything. My next purchase is the Netgear FM114P at a cost of AU$364.00 because I want the functions that my existing router has, SPI, NAT, Print server, etc with the addition of a 11Mbs wireless LAN port and dialup backup connection. It works on Cable and ADSL so a change of connection for me will mean not having to buy another router.
LAN-wise, it's much of a muchness, most home networks are 10/100 base to allow compatability with 100 base network cards on the local machines and the 10 base connection to your broadband modem. A 100 base router is not likely to work with a broadband router so get the 10/100 base model. This, of course may vary, depending on the country you live in.
In reality the best source of what is available in your area can be provided by your ISP. Also note that some ISPs allow home networks and others don't. Those that do will often allow you to do it but not provide support for it as you are then not using hardware supplied by them. Some will allow you to run servers and others won't. Some will allow open access on all ports and others block certain ports, namely port 80, to stop you running web servers. :tongue: So a bit of shopping around will be necessary.
