Hi Chris
Actually the friend is a 'she' lol.
Thanks anyway for your suggestions - NTL fitted some stray modem with ethernet and usb, so it looks like a standard 'broadband' router will do the job.
I have actually used a Dlink wireless kit including modem for a neighbour - the control panel and instructions are hardly impressive - the quick guide doesn't say to restart the router after setup, so I wasted a while there.
I've never tried updating firmware on a Dlink, but I did stumble across a forum where people were reccomending australian and russian updates, so it must be a fairly big problem!
Linksys here we come!
Cheers