I'm thinking about swapping from dial-up to ADSL broadband. Which brand/models of external ADSL router-modems are most recommended? I'm after a 4-port wired version (ie not wireless), with built-in firewall.

I've already briefly looked at the following:-

Netgear DG834
DLink DI-604
Billion (Solwise) BIPAC-5100

I want something that's easy to configure and can accommodate ADSL speeds of at least 4M bits/sec.

Just how good are the above three? Are they a bit long in the tooth now, or perhaps that doesn't matter? Can you point me to some other good ones, in the price range £40 - £60 ($70 - $110)? What about comparative reviews; are there any published on the Internet?

Well since I've not had xDSL for quite some time the only thing I can tell you is that the USB models *all* seem to have issues. Stick with the ethernet models for sure

I do however use an ethernet Linksys gateway/router and it works great with the supplied RCA(Thompson) Cable Modem.

Looks like you're going the all-in-one route which is nice in that you will have only one box to administer.

I use the wireless variant of the Netgear DG834.

It's always been rock solid with my ADSL line (it has never dropped the connection once). It's modem is currently capable of up to 8 Mbps downstream and with a forthcoming firmware upgrade will be able to support ADSL 2+ for speeds of up to 24 Mbps.

It's got a very good stateful packet inspection firewall, supports UPnP and advanced VPN pass-through, all wrapped up behind a very slick interface.

All in all, I'm very pleased with it.

Or perhaps a cisco 800 series router
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/rt/800/

Thanks, y'all.