In this thread on a StackExchange website, I got the following advice.
Try to replace your home router with an openbsd box, play with pf and the network. You will see how easy it is to make what you want. It's clean, reliable and secure.
It makes me wonder. What are the features that matter in a router? My apartment isn't very big (45m2), apart from a wifi antenna and an ethernet port, what do I really need to look for?
Well, rahmu, a router is basically an ethernet switch, a wifi transmitter, and a chipset. They are ubiquitous and can be found in every single wireless router you purchase nowadays. However, it's the specifications of those components that matter:

1) Ethernet switch: It should ideally be 1gigabit ethernet ports. With HD movie streaming, file transfer, backup,etc... network bandwidth higher than the 11MB/s (realistic) transfer speeds of 100mbit is required. When your internet connection is fast enough too (let's say over 40mbit),

internet access, coupled with any local network services being used, would make quite a large dent on the network bandwidth available. This is actually advised in here: http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/bwmon

"Does your local network provide enough bandwidth?

You should make sure that when you do have a 50 Mbit/s line that your LAN has at least 100 Mbit/s. A Gigabit LAN would be recommend for bandwidths greater than 40 Mbit/s, because otherwise your LAN bandwidth might be consumed by local file transfers or other LAN services

being used by other clients connected to your router. Try not to make internet bandwidth tests from your wireless network and instead test your wireless network separately by transferring data from cable-connected clients (Ethernet or Fibre) to wireless clients."

Ideally, a gigabit port would offer 90+% of the theoretical speed. Meaning with a good ethernet switch, you should get above 900Mbit/s (or 112.5MB/s). For example, the Realtek RTL8111F ethernet switch has a 944Mbit/s throughput, which means 94% of theoretical rated speed of 1Gbit/s. (couldn't find the link now)

http://152.104.125.41/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=291


2) Wi-Fi transmitter: If the Wi-Fi transmitter is Atheros, then it would work better (more stability I guess, maybe better speeds) with Atheros wireless clients. If it is Broadcom, then it would work better with Broadcom wireless clients. Some OpenWRT builds may have problems with a

specific model for one of these brands. Some may or may not support additional features.

Detachable antennas are also a big plus for those wanting better range or directional range. More powerful omnidirectional antennas offer better range in all directions, while a directional antenna focuses the signal in a specific direction. These are useful for outdoor use, for example: directing the signal towards a swimming pool so that you can use your laptop / tablet while lying around.

Additionally, support for both 5GHz and 2.4GHz (dual-band) transmission may be beneficial. 5GHz may offer better speeds but lower range than 2.4GHz. 5GHz may also avoid interference, since the 2.4GHz band may be congested.

3) Chipset, CPU, RAM: The faster a router's CPU is, the more connections it can support. A low-end CPU may bottleneck applications which establish a huge number of connections (p2p, torrents). A big enough amount of RAM would allow multiple packages and services to run on the

router, increasing productivity (running an SIP server, VPN, network bandwidth consumption monitoring, etc... all services, of course, require RAM. A low amount of RAM would necessitate using a swap partition on a USB mass storage device connected to the router.)

4) Flash chip: In case one is thinking of replacing the stock firmware on his router, the router's flash chip should have enough capacity to store at least the custom firmware + a few packages. OpenWRT has a lite version and a full-fledged version, allowing its installation on
Other packages can probably be installed on a USB flash drive connected to the router, if the

custom firmware supports it (native support, or via packages).

5) USB port:

For storage: Connecting USB flash drives, hard drives, etc... and sharing them over the network.
For printers: Connecting a printer and sharing it over the network.
For backup, emergency internet: Connecting a 3G / 4G USB dongle, and allowing the whole network internet access. This is great for a backup plan, when the broadband internet goes down. Also, it allows the router to become a "3G router". You are then able to choose a router based

on other components and features, rather than searching for a "3G router" and getting stuck with its limitations.

I think these are some of the most important features one should look for in a router.
Cisco E4200, a no-brainer, enough said.
Yasamoka's tutorial is pretty much what you asked for and I don't think anyone will give a better answer.
MrClass's suggested router is a very nice piece of hardware that has everything you need including good looks and great wireless range.
If you are gonna buy a router get the Cisco E4200. No matter how much it costs it's worth it.
@yasamoka, thanks for the wonderful answers to my questions. Can you expand a bit more on the fourth point ("Flash chip")? What are exactly the characteristic I should look for on a vendor website?

@AvoK95 and MrClass: I'm very happy you have your favorite router, but that's not really answering my question. My requirements may (and probably are) different then yours, shouldn't you know them before suggesting your favorite brand?

Anyway, the point is not to ask you to pick one for me, but to teach me how to pick one.
You can use your old router and flash the firmware with DD-WRT.
You will unlock new features and possibilities and simply turn a 50$ router to a 500$ router with all the features you need.

Other than that when choosing a router the main things too look for are the following:

-Wireless B/G or N ? :
With Wireless N you will have the best performance when it comes to range, streaming or copying files through a wireless network. Note that both devices should be wireless N but all wireless N routers also support to send wireless B and G signals so there will be no worries in incompatibility.

-54Mbps 120Mbps or 300Mbps ? :
These are speeds of what your wireless signal can send from your internet connection.
Let's say you have a 100Mbps internet connection and you got a 54Mbps router.This will limit your connection to 54Mbps in the case of being wireless. The range also effects the speed as well..

-Firmware Features :
A 50$ router can simply distribute an internet connection through out your home or office where a 500$ router can do much much more. This includes limiting quota or blocking websites on certain PC-s and much much more!
But as I said before you're better of flashing the default firmware with DD-WRT instead.

These are the main things that I look for in a router.
I'd like to add to yasamoka's list: Firewall.

If you want to use a bsdbox, openbsd is the best option. It has a strong built-in packet filter. (They already mentioned it on the other forum..)

Honestly, I never tried bsd for routing but I did it one time using Red Hat Linux, it worked like a charm ; well but it was hard for my family to use it, my father just want to turn on his laptop, read his mail and news without worrying about turning on another machine and plugging some antenna :-)
scorz wroteI'd like to add to yasamoka's list: Firewall.

If you want to use a bsdbox, openbsd is the best option. It has a strong built-in packet filter. (They already mentioned it on the other forum..)

Honestly, I never tried bsd for routing but I did it one time using Red Hat Linux, it worked like a charm ; well but it was hard for my family to use it, my father just want to turn on his laptop, read his mail and news without worrying about turning on another machine and plugging some antenna :-)
Firewall is software. It is definitely required. However, in my answer, there was a clear emphasis on running non-stock router firmware, such as OpenWRT. If you are running stock firmware, then the focus would be on the whole package (hardware + software), and not hardware alone. But since a good package usually costs a small fortune (and may saddle you with and make you pay for features you may never use), it's always a good idea to consider focusing on the hardware and installing the custom firmware you need. Infinitely flexible.

EDIT: @AvoK95: ouff, forgot about those. How is that possible? These are SIMPLY some of the most important features in the router's Wi-Fi transmitter. Good points there.

Basically, wireless N works via multiple streams. Each stream is 150mbps. A router that offers 2 streams is rated at 300mbps. A router that offers 3 streams is rated at 450mbps. Of course, you'd never get to those numbers realistically, but the speed is there. Note that the number of antennas a router has is not at all relevant to the number of spatial streams it supports.

Wireless N also employs MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output, it's not optional as in Wireless G) which uses multiple antennas to boost range and througput, so you should never find Wireless N routers with a single antenna.

Buffalo has recently experimented with wireless AC, which offers 1.75Gbps vs. 450mbps (Wireless N) :drool: