My ISP were dead against ideas about getting USB modems for mac. There's apparently been a history of USB modem issues with mac (much moreso than with windows.) I trust them (they even "unofficially" helped me configure my modem for port forwarding for LW lol )

I never tried LW 3 but did run LW 2 on a g3 (the 1st G3) under OS 8.5 (& of course an obsolete version of Java but I couldn't update it under os8.5 & my partner wouldn't let me update the os. hahaha) (My other 7200 series mac & G4 were not configured for net at the time. I was stuck with crashes, etc.)

Stief will be best to talk about speeds. I only have a modest speed (260/60 & about 180 in practice.)

As far as modems go I use a D-Link 504G which is purely an ethernet modem. It's not wireless. http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...highlight=504g & I use either UPnP or manual force ip: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...291#post106291
But Stief may have better suggestions.

I suppose if you wanted wireless you could go airport. Would still require port forwarding. But http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm lists instructions on top-ish left side of page of how to do.