Which one to buy?

If you want something that works don't buy anythink Belkin.

Ohnestly, that is like asking what smells better, poo or crap? In my experience neither of those routers have proven any worth.

If you want something with decent quality I would look more towards the Linksys WRT54GL or Buffalo WHR-HP-G54. Go with which ever is more easily accessible to you. The buffalo may be cheaper but the linksys could be found at a local shop. You will probably come across the WRT54G more than the GL. Dont mistake one for the other, they are completely different animals. The new WRT54G is worthless while the GL is excellent.

If your budget is fairly decent go for a buisness line router from Netgear (they have blue metal casings). Those kick butt but come at a cost.

Get a seperate router and modem the combos usually arent very good. Microcenter is selling the Dlink di634 for $99 with a $30 rebate. Great price for a really nice router. I just picked one up to replace my Belkin 7231-4 and i love it, much better speed on p2p and better VOIP performance as well. highly reccomended!

Dont buy Belkin their routers are crap. Is there a specific reason you want a combo modem/router instead of haveing the two seperatre?? I think you will generally be better off with a seperate modem and router than an all-in-one. That being said Im much happier with my new Dlink router than I was with the Belkin router it replaced.

I have the Linksys WRT54GL. I am having continuous drop and reconnection issues!! Very frustrating. I've tried all the channels, removed all wireless phones, reset the router and still experience continuous drops. Any ideas???

Well how far away is your router to the cleint? Any walls or anything in the way?? Not to knock your router or anything but its not known for very good performance. Id try a MIMO router mine seems to really work well even at long distances and two floors where as my old Belkin 7231 would drop pot and lose connections alot. I The Dlink DI634 works flawlessly and the performance is in a whole other league, its also got the stream engine which is great if you do VOIP, games, or IP video...etc You can pick them up pretty cheap since they were replaced by the newer draft-n routers and the 4300. You might also want to try replacing your Linksys antenna with something better first before you go buy a new router.

By client, do you mean the PC that is used to set up the Router? The desktop is one floor up and half way across house, @50ft, thru @ 5-6 walls. The desktop shows a very good signal.   The laptop in question is directly above the router, just the floor separating. The desktop maintains its internet use, even with loss of the connection (reconnects quickly), the laptop loses everything, has to be closed and reopened.  
This is probably the most stupid question, but, I thought that the router signal is best centralized in the usage area? The router is basically a transmitter? Is it's performance dependent upon it's proximity to the client/host pc? I have read good things about the DLink 634 adn 4300 also a Buffalo unit. I am not into gaming over the net, just want a good strong dependable signal for a desktop, 2 laptops, shared printer function. I might game over my lan but not across the net. Suggestions adn Thanks...

The cleint is any computers that are connecting wirelessly through your router. Your laptop would be one for instance. Does your router have afterburner or turno or any of those high speed mode things?? If so try turning it off and using the router in standard "g" mode and see if that helps. If you have more than one cleint and they arent all compatible with the high speed mode it can cause problems. Good luck!