[NBLUG/talk] Recommendations for a wireless router?

[Lincoln Peters]

So my parents' computer seems to be working...at least for now.  I'll
probably obtain a well-supported (most likely 3Com) ethernet card for
if/when the onboard ethernet acts weird again, but until then, I have
a slightly more pressing issue.

Every so often, something will go wrong that's entirely a software
issue, and they don't know how to fix it.  Not that unusual (it
happens with any OS), but troubleshooting it over the phone tends to
be a painful experience, especially if it involves certain terminal
commands (and I don't know the GUI tools in Kubuntu well enough to
talk someone through them), and making a house call is not a trivial
matter (two hours of driving each way).  It would be far easier if I
could SSH and/or VNC into their computer and control it directly, but
they have a old and cheap DSL router that doesn't support port
forwarding.  As a result, I can't connect to their computer from
outside the network.


Now, I know that most routers support port forwarding, and I can use
DynDNS to assign a fixed name to the computer (and I can lock down SSH
to ensure that only I can use it to log in).  I've already done this
with a server at home, so that shouldn't be hard at all.  What I don't
know is:

1. What routers on the market today are worth dealing with?  I've
already tried a refurbished D-Link wireless router and had to return
it because the browser-based configuration tool didn't work, and I
don't want to have to return the next one I get.

2. Are there other features I should look for?  For instance, I've
occasionally thought it would be worthwhile to set up a proper VPN,
and I know that some routers have various kinds of VPN support built
into them.  I know that some routers also have built-in DynDNS
support, which would eliminate the need to run a client on their PC.


Thanks in advance.


-- 
Lincoln Peters
<anfrind at gmail.com>