New iMac wireless internet crashes repeatedly -- why?

Question

Just set up the following wireless LAN: Netgear WGT624v3 wireless router as access point between a broadband cable modem, a new 27" iMac, a PowerBook G4, and a Canon wireless printer. Everything works great except for one thing: whenever I'm trying to use the internet on the new iMac, my internet connection crashes and I have to manually reset the modem and router. This happens when downloading a file even as small as 2 Mb. As you can imagine, this has become incredibly irritating, as none of us can get anything done on our new computer without me having to come over and flip a switch on the power strip to repeatedly reset the internet connection.
The Netgear router is about as old as the PowerBook (3+ years)--I see it's listed "EOL" (end-of-life) on the Netgear website, and I'm wondering if it may not be powerful enough to handle the new iMac? That's the only thing I can think of, since using the internet with the PowerBook causes no problems at all. I don't understand the subtleties of Airport v. Airport Extreme, 802.11b, g, n or whatever, to figure this out on my own.
Anyone had a similar problem and/or can confirm that the router is the culprit before I needlessly spend money on a new one?

Answer 1

Some things you can try, if you haven't already:
-Make sure you don't have any cordless phone base stations operating near your router.
-Are any other electrical appliances (like microwave ovens or fluorescent bulbs) operating when your wireless connection fails?
-Power down the router and the iMac, then restart each.
-Change the channel your router uses to broadcast its signal. You should be able to do this from the web browser interface most routers support.
-Check Netgear's support website for firmware updates. Some routers can be commanded to check this from the web browser interface.
Message was edited by: inandoutofgrace