I've got NTL broadband, and only NTL broadband! No sodding phone lines or television for me.
As C@t said, we have mobiles for speaking to people. I'm also getting a second hand Sky box off a mate soon, so I'll have all the FTA stuff on Sky for a lovely £0.00 a month!
ACtually, just to bring it back on topic for a moment (heaven forbid)...
Now that I have the NTL connection, we want it shared between three computers in the house.
the NTL man recommended a wireless router, but I a) don't fully understand how they work, and whether we would need to buy just the router, or wireless cards for the computers themselves b) how much they cost/which to get
Would, for the purposes of what we want, a hard-wired router be good enough? I take it that's it's not a complicated process - -- MODEM > ROUTER via ethernet, then ROUTER > PCs via ethernet?
What's the best to go for and how much, and from where?
Wirelessly you need a router attached to the cable modem. Wireless routers have sockets for ethernet cables anyway so you can plug the nearest computer into it directly.Then you'd need a wireless network card for computers that are too far away to be connected by cable.
You could just do it with wires, the way you mention, if you don't mind tripping up over the cables running around your house or drilling holes in the walls between rooms.
Incidentally there's more than one type of wireless networking. Cheaper is 802.11b, but the range is limited. If your house has thick walls or your rooms are quite far apart then 802.11g may serve you better.