[geeks] Cable modems/routers

[mrl]

Just got cable installed at the house (after slogging along for 2 years
with dialup and 6 months with 90$/mo ISDN), and the cable modem they
give us sucks (at least it's a no-extra-fee "loaner", tho). Looking to
replace the thing, but I want to make sure that it's not something that
I have to power cycle all the time, a la the ISDN modem, some
"consumer-grade" switches, the DSL modem at work, etc. Does anybody have
any recommendations?

Oh, and if I purchase a PCI cable modem, are there any gotchas? My dad
is of the opinion that just because it's PCI, that doesn't mean that it
won't require a power-cycle every once in the while (which of course
means rebooting the entire machine), although that doesn't make much
sense to me (as in, there's no way a card-manufacturer would put the
thing on the market if it had a flaw like that, right?). Anything,
related or unrelated, to look out for?

On a related note, one of our switches may be failing. Any suggestions
on what to replace it with are welcome (in the 4-8 port range, nothing
huge).