ask Dr. LJ about home wifi routers

The Sweatshop house router is showing its age, so I'm thinking about replacing it with something that doesn't crash every week or so when it's warm out (which is to say that this summer it's actually been pretty reliable). So I'm looking for suggestions. ( geekery ensues )

Please let me know what you think. And please don't feel that you have to have answers to any/all of my questions to comment. Thank you very much.