Well I recently bought a Buffalo router because I could install dd-wrt on it and the WiFi on the Virgin Superhub was flaky, that seems to be ticking along nicely. A lot of people seem to like Netgear and Linksys.
In the past I've generally just used the ISP routers. The BeThere and Sky routers have been fairly decent.
The only one I've had issues with was a D-Link router about 10 years ago because it couldn't cope with too many connections (torrents flooding it), but that was ages ago so I doubt it's an issue with modern D-Link stuff.
I thought it sounded like he just wanted to use the old as a switch? Maybe I misunderstand the question? If that is what he wants to do that's possible...
I bunged dd-wrt onto an "acquired" Linksys WRT54GL in order to provide a wireless bridge in my living room, since neither my Sky+ box nor my Raspberry Pi have built-in wireless support. My main router is just the standard Sky hub and it works a treat for on demand and streaming videos to the Pi. Still might upgrade the bits at some point though as the setup does choke a bit with high-def stuff unfortunately.
So what's the cheapest dd-wrt compatible router these days? I fancy replacing my stupid sky booster with a proper Bridge setup so that the wifi isn't being repeated.
Or should I just get a 4 port switch and a couple of these home plug doodads?
Well it arrived, but as far as I can tell so far it's completely dead. Got 5v going into it (checked on the board side of the connector, it's definitely making it in) but no power LED coming on and no voltage at the led either.