need cable modem/router advice

We have a cable internet connection at the office. We get private IP adress
from internet provider. Currently we have ics setup. I want to do away with
ics as there is frequent loss of internet connection. The network is
currently setup like this: the cable from isp goes in to 3com officeconnect
dual speed switch 8 plus
(http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/d...sku=3C16791-US)
and a cable from it goes to server (windows 2003 server). there are 2
network adapters in this computer, from where another set of private ip is
given. a cable then goes to another switch and all comps get connection from
that switch.

Now, do I need a cable modem too, or just a cable router will do the thing?
What i want is to connect the cable from isp to cable router and connect
other comps too to this router (and add a switch if the ports in router are
not enough for all comps).
Is it possible to do this the way I want?
What cable router do you recommend?
My requirements are-
1. i can see how much traffic any comp used
2. some firewall, so that i can turnoff/limit downloads etc. (better if
individual settings for each comp)

Any help appreciated. (familiar with dsl network but never touched any cable
network).

On Jun 15, 3:31 pm, "ashok" <a...@replyhere.com> wrote:
> We have a cable internet connection at the office. We get private IP adress
> from internet provider. Currently we have ics setup. I want to do away with
> ics as there is frequent loss of internet connection. The network is
> currently setup like this: the cable from isp goes in to 3com officeconnect
> dual speed switch 8 plus
> (http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/d...rt&pathtype=su...)
> and a cable from it goes to server (windows 2003 server). there are 2
> network adapters in this computer, from where another set of private ip is
> given. a cable then goes to another switch and all comps get connection from
> that switch.
>
> Now, do I need a cable modem too, or just a cable router will do the thing?
> What i want is to connect the cable from isp to cable router and connect
> other comps too to this router (and add a switch if the ports in router are
> not enough for all comps).
> Is it possible to do this the way I want?
> What cable router do you recommend?
> My requirements are-
> 1. i can see how much traffic any comp used
> 2. some firewall, so that i can turnoff/limit downloads etc. (better if
> individual settings for each comp)
>
> Any help appreciated. (familiar with dsl network but never touched any cable
> network).

what i would do is get a Linksys WRT54G, its a router/wireless access
point then install something called DD-WRT (do a search in google)
then all you need to do is take the cable from the modem to the WAN
port in the router then from the router to the hub/switch