I am a luddite.  I will admit it right up front.

However, the time has come to set up a home wireless network.

Can anyone give me some advice?  Anyone have a nice easy "plug and play" wireless router they can recommend?  What are the steps to setting this thing up?

Any and all help would be appreciated.

A 5 year old can set up an airport extreme.

Bought a new linksys and literally it walks you through the entire process so go buy you one, run the setup disk and enjoy your new wireless.

You need a modem and a wireless router. I believe there are devices that can do both, but our cheapo set up uses separate devices.

Your Internet service provider may have restrictions on the type of hardware devices you may use. Depending upon what devices you buy you'll probably have to give them ID numbers from said devices.

Whatever you do, buy your own equipment- it will pay for itself in probably about 6mos compared to renting from your ISP.

As for wireless security, most routers come with a CD that launches a set up wizard. Follow the steps and use a strong password.

is linksys the cisco product?  do you have a model number that worked well for you?

I have the E3000, but I can't recommend it.  I had to tinker with mine to get it to work reliably.    Search the reviews on Newegg.  A lot of the wireless routers do more than just networking, they'll have USB ports for printers and portable hard drives etc.  Would you ever want to print while connected wirelessly?  Expect to spend 60-100 dollars

No, I just want to be able to run our tablet devices and, maybe, stream some netflix on the laptop.  We have a workstation where the printer, etc. is located.

I went ahead and ordered a pretty basis linksys router.

Thanks for all your help!