Reddit mentions of Cisco-Linksys E3000 Wireless-N Router

You can do it already, and it's not that difficult. Buy a router with dual channels, e.g. the Linksys E3000 (Affiliate Link) (Non-Affiliate Link) (I have no stake in this recommendation other than the Afflink), and put DD-WRT on it: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_E3000

If you really want, you can configure one channel (e.g. 2.4GHz) as your open network and one (e.g. 5GHz) with encryption. I've been running DD-WRT open for years, but I recently upgraded to one of these and I leave both channels open, but configure Quality of Service (QoS) so that my neighbors have access, but my traffic always takes priority. I live in Manhattan, so I regularly have 5-20 people on my network and it doesn't affect me a bit. Works great, never needs a reboot, and I promote the ideal of allowing open access to the Internet.

If you really want security, you need a secure connection (e.g. https) to your destination anyway. WPA/WEP only encrypt the connection to your router, so anyone between your router and the destination server can sniff your traffic easily.

Note that I'm only using two channels because the 2.4GHz band is so congested here that my network slows down from signal interference. You can open your network and have bandwidth prioritization with a single channel just as easily.

i just replaced mine with the Linksys E3000

I recommend installing TomatoUSB on it.
seems to handle multiple devices and torrenting without issue. has a gig LAN and Dual 2.4Ghz + 5Ghz channel frequency.

Couple of random suggestions here:

• I've helped out my regular coffee shop with wifi before. Really, anything you put in place will be more reliable than the off-the-shelf SOHO routers they'll get.
  
  
• I mean seriously--a $20 E3000 with Tomato firmware will be fine for most small shops: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003B48UQ8/
  
  
• That said, if you're talking cameras and other systems, something like an R710 is under $200 and will have the juice for it.
  
  
• In an ideal world, maybe: R210ii for pfSense, Ubiquiti access point, R710 for security cams and storage and whatever else. Could consolidate into an R710 and virtualize pfSense if needed.
  
  
• Cheap older POS systems are going to be more headache than not. It's probably worth it to just go with a modern system like Square via their printer/cash drawer kits: https://squareup.com/shop/hardware/us/en/products/ipad-air-wifi-pos-kit-food
  
  
• Yes, VLAN for employee/public networks, any IP cameras, etc.

Hook up wired and do a speed test, I bet you will get nearly double your speed. Also make sure no other devices are using an older speed technology (wireless G) that could impact speeds on your whole network. When I bought my Linksys E3000 my wireless speed literally doubled, you can usually find it for under $50 if you shop around

Damn, This got a bit long and didn't really scratch the surface. Sorry.

Here's my setup:

Router: Linksys E3000 running dd-wrt firmware

Media Server/Nas: Re-purposed Dell Vostro 200, Celeron 420 1.6Ghz, 4Gb Ram, Win7 Pro, 6TB Storage (2TB+4TB), Shares are served with Windows SMB & haneWIN NFS Server.

House Has 3 TVs: Living Room, Bedroom, and Basement Office

Living Room: XBMC Running on a Foxconn nt-A3700, Win7, 4gb RAM, 500gb HDD. Connected via Wireless N. Bose Cinemate II Sound System (1080p HDMI, S/PDIF Coaxial)

Bedroom: Raspberry Pi running RASPBMC, Connected with Edimax EW-7811un Wireless Adapter. using NFS shares. (1080p HDMI, TV Speakers)

Basement/Home Office: An old self assembled gaming rig re-purposed as a dedicated HTPC. GeForce 9800GTx+, Sony STR-DH520 7.1 Audio System. (1080p HDMI, S/PDIF-TOSLINK)

Other Devices: WDTV Media Player non-XBMC. Would not reliably see windows SMB shares, but NFS worked well. Not in use.

Thoughts: If you're serious. At some point get a dedicated server PC of some sort. It doesn't need to be much in terms of hardware if all you intend to do is serve media files on your LAN. If you plan on converting the files as you serve them (Plex? not necessary with XBMC), then you'll need some processing power behind your server setup. Mine sits in a locked room with our surveillance DVR. No monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Ethernet plugged directly into the router for the full 1000 mbp/s.

The Foxconn nt-A3700 connected in the living room is a great little box. We bought it back in 2012, and I haven't regretted it yet. I guess a contemporary alternative would be the Intel NUC. We use a MCE IR remote to control XBMC. IR reciever connected with a usb dongle.

The best of them is the basement office HTPC. I have a PS3 Remote control connected via bluetooth for XBMC. It works seamlessly between the Sony TV and Sony Reciever. I play video games on it (Steam Big Picture with an Xbox 360 controller), surf the web, browse Reddit. ect I use a Lenovo N5902 when I need it to act like a PC.

The Raspberry Pi: It's not perfect, but I like it. It runs RASPBMC. The interface (Confluence Skin) can be a little laggy at times, but I kind of expected that from a 700mhz processor (I'm currently overclocked to 900 with heatsinks). You'll have to buy the MPEG-2 license for your board if you plan on playing files using that codec. Ours uses a MCE Remote similar to the Living room htpc but the IR reciever is connected to the GPIO Pins. It was a bit of a pain to find a good wireless adapter. I went through 3 different models before I found the Edimax. That seems to be the theme of the Pi. Yeah it works but only with certain peripherals. Mine still struggles with 3gb+ 1080p movies over wireless (Stuttering/Buffering), but it handles 2gb 720p movies with ease. This feels like more of a wifi/usb power limitation of the Pi. Hard-wired it will play those same 1080p files just fine. If you like to tinker then get it. If you don't want to fuss with it then get a bookshelf htpc like the NUC (or Foxconn nt-A3700) But you're looking at apples and oranges between a 35$ media player(100~ with accessories) and a 300$ PC

The media library is housed on two internal hard drives. 2TB and 4TB. I have windows set to email if there are any issues with the disks as I have had to replace the 4TB once in the last 4 years and nearly lost a metric fuck-ton of data. I use four folders as my shares. 'Television' on the root of that 4TB drive because it needs nearly all of it. Movies and Music on the root of the 2TB system drive. They are shared via windows built-in SMB and hanewin NFS Server. The reason I use hanewinNFS over windows SMB is that the Pi seems to perform better using NFS shares over wireless. Could be lower the overhead or just voodoo. Who Knows?
I use theRenamer to rename all media before I add it to the XBMC library. Then I scrape it using Media Companion and have it store the info on the server with the media. The reasoning behind this is that when I need to repair, rebuild, or add another XBMC client (It happens from time to time) It doesn't have to scrape 1000's of episodes and movies from the web. It's all there next to the file for XBMC to find quickly. You're welcome imdb/theTVDB.com

Hope that gives you a general idea.

I don't think there is a such thing as a hard drive with wireless built in. I have one of these : http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-E3000-Cisco-Linksys-Wireless-N-Router/dp/B003B48UQ8

It has NAS USB ports for you to plug in a USB hard drive.

Linksys e3000

Your ISP may be able to give you a modem/switch but I haven't seen them on the consumer market.

This will fit your needs very well:

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-E3000-High-Performance-Wireless-N-Router/dp/B003B48UQ8