I live in a double brick three bedroom two story townhouse with a concrete ceiling between the two stories. Not the best for wireless reception, especially upstairs, however there is no chance of putting in cabling.

The performance of my Netcomm NB9W has been getting worse ever since it was provided by my ISP (TPG) three years ago. Telephone calls drop out, computers can not connect and we must unplug the modem and plug back in before they will connect. It is now time to upgrade.

I am looking to get a Linksys N modem/router. Should I get the dual-band (which is quite a bit more expensive) or would the single band suffice?

Also, I understand that Linksys do not produce a modem/router with a Phone port so I will need to purchase a Phone Adapter. Currently we need to prefix local calls with 02 otherwise they go through Telstra and we are charged accordingly. Occasionally members of the family do forget this negating the benefit of having VOIP. Also, 1300 numbers must be prefixed with ## or they simply do not work. Again forgotten sometime resulting in a irate family member. These hassles and being charged for calls that should be free or cheaper are reducing the value of VOIP.

Would we be better off getting our VOIP through another supplier (e.g., Engine) and buying their Phone Adapter or do they all have the same reliability and idiosyncrasies? If we just buy the Linksys Phone adapter and stay with TPG will this new setup at least improve the reliability of the VOIP telephone calls?

Regards,

Glyn