Maximum PC

Recently I have been having a bunch of network problems, so I just kind of want to learn more about how to take the best steps to get an awesome, reliable network. I read the article MaxPC had about the best routers, and am kind of itching to get the Netgear RangeMax V1 now. My current situation is I have frontier DSL with a westell 7500 wireless router modem combo unit. I also have a Linksys WRT54G wireless router, that I used up with a Westell 6100 modem until that modem broke and they sent me the 7500. I wasn't able to get the Westell and the Linksys to really play nice; I wasn't able to open ports. So for now I am just sticking with the 7500.

But the Westell is probably a piece of shit compared to the Linksys right? Let alone the Netgear RangeMax V1. I have been told that my Westell is not really a modem, modems are just for cable, right? But whatever it is, are there any tricks to getting the "dsl modem" to work well with a 3rd party router? Like I said, I just haven't been able to get it to open ports through two devices and stuff like that. I read somewhere that I shouldn't even use a 3rd party router with a dsl modem, instead just a wireless access point. But that doesn't seem right.

Do cable high speed internet modems have the same problems with 3rd party routers where you can't open ports? What about fiber?

So I have determined what my problem was. Originally, I had my modem set in routed bridge mode, where my modem was still acting as a router. Because of the two routers being used at once, I was unable to open ports. When I changed my modem to straight bridge mode, it wouldn't work, because my IP address was still linked to the mac address for the modem. If I had shut everything off and waited a day for the IP address to be released, it would work. The easier (debatable...) is to call tech support for the ISP (ugh...) and ask them to release the IP address so it can be linked to the mac address for a 3rd party router. I was on the phone with text support for over an hour, 45 minutes of which were utter nonsense. And I called knowing exactly what I needed them to do, so tech support was frustrating as usual. But now I finally have my network set up the way I want it, with the crappy modem/router acting solely as a bridge. Got to say I learned a lot about home networks though.