I'm going to be networking my mates house, they've got broadband with NTL, a cable modem, and there's 3 computers to be connected, can anyone recommend a good router, and tell me the difference between cat5e/cat5/crossover etc ables, and dare I ask!, tell me which one's I need?? Cheers,

well a broadband router would help!! Cat5 are high sheilded twisted cabling. Crossover ones give more protection to the cabling.. making the data more secure I think..? Cat5e i dunno.. just search :P

Cat5 and Cat5e cables are for most purposes identical. Cat5e does have slighty better specs that would not be noticed on most home networks. Crossover refers to the way the cable is wired to the RJ11 plug. Connecting you computer to a router/hub/switch or other network device you would use a straight through cable. Connecting two computers together via their NICs you would a crossover cable, either CAt5 or Cat5e. The transmit and receive wires are crossed over at one end of the cable. So connecting to a router you will need straight through cable, NOT crossover. The following site will explain in detail: http://discountcablesusa.com/ethernet-cables.html Stuart

www.practicallynetworked.com has reviews for almost all routers on the market.

Don't you need cat5e for gigabit?

Cat5e is required for gigabit but Cat6 is better. Stuart