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I was wondering if there was any way with a typical home router (for instance I have a Linksys WRT160N) to create a wireless network which is essentially sandboxed from the rest of my network. Basically I want devices on this network to be able to access the Internet only, but not any of the other computers on the network. I'm open to purchasing a different router if anybody has suggestions on devices that have this capability.

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From the stock-firmware, this is not possible as far as I know. If you resort to 3rd party hardware like openwrt, it's fairly simple. Openwrt will void your warranty, so tread in that direction with caution. But as far as the internal-workings of the router goes... the wireless interface is bridged with a vlan interface that is tied to the LAN ports on the back of the modem. Once you have a more "open" firmware on your device... you can simply remove the wireless from the bridge and configure it as needed. There is even the capability of hosting multiple SSIDs in different network segments, as well as separating each physical port onto it's own "VLAN".

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This is certainly interesting. I didn't even know this kind of thing existed so thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, it appears that the WRT160N V2 is some sort of forsaken router that isn't going to be supported by any of the major 3rd party firmware players. Oh well... –  Kyle May 3 '11 at 12:25
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Many modern wireless routers have the option to create a separate "Guest" wireless network. Devices on the "Guest" network will only be able to access the Internet. They should not be able to "talk" to devices on your private wireless network, the wired network, or even other devices on the "Guest" wireless.

Since "shopping recommendations" are off-topic here, I'll not post specific product links. Just look around for the "Guest" network feature, and you should find a few.

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