Need a wireless router, please help?

Since you are asking general, here is the general answer. Depends!

Different Perspectives:

Security: you'll want the one with WPA2 security (means WPA2 Personal) or at least WPA. You don't want the ones with WEP; TKIP is a little better but falls in same category as WEP. If you get WPA2 router, you also need WPA2 (personal) capable WiFi card.

Range: for SoHo models, they won't indicate this: the more power (measured in dBi) the better signal receptions/transmission. What you can do is to look for the one with multiple antennas (I don't own one but guessing), hoping that it will do better reception.

Brand: Its hard since I don't own any SoHo models but I do know that LinkSys "Business Class" models are always better but expensive. If you care about putting more work into it, buy Cisco models. For pure access point, try AIR-AP1232AG-A-K9 (in this case, you'll need additional wired router to hook this AP to). For combined with wired side, try Cisco 871W models. You can get them on ebay.

I think you are, being admittedly not experienced, a little unwise to reject the Virgin supplied wireless router which should be set up to work with their service straight out of the box -- and be supported by them.

I believe the Virgin routers are a Netgear model with customised firmware -- there's nothing wrong with Netgear as a brand in my experience.