I think Linksys and Netgear are pretty much *the* standard reliable solutions... i do have to say, though, that Apple's designs are bomb proof. It seems that there are hardly any threads about failing AEBS's, although granted the fact that the old one (which you can get used for not too too much, and which I highly recommend) only has one wired port.
I increasingly suspect that more than anything else, they just have better surge protection. That being said, perhaps part of the investment could/should be a surge protector that can also filter whatever incoming signal (DSL or Cable line) that you have? A lot of people implicate this as a major unmeasured cause of router drama.
