Sometime ago, I switched from DSL to a broadband cable. I use a Netgear wireless router WGR614v5 (54 mbps) so I can take my laptop into another room. What I am unable to determine is whether the speed is determined by the router or the ISP.

I would appreciate your clarification on this issue.

On a network, your connection speed is only ever as fast as your slowest connection point.

The speed between your router and your laptop is as fast as your wired or wireless connection is able to provide. When Windows XP says it has an "Excellent" wireless connection at 54Mbps, or shows a wired connetion at 100Mbps, it's telling you the connection speed between it and the router only.

To go further down the chain:

The speed between your router and your broadband modem is as fast as the two devices are connected. Newer broadband modems will have a 100Mbit Ethernet link, while older ones may still use only 10Mbit links. Sometimes you can access statistics on the modem to see its' connection speed back to the ISP.

The speed between your broadband modem and your ISP is as fast as their class of service provides. Generally speaking, the service you pay for determines your speed, however consumer Internet service speeds are not guaranteed. For example: If you pay for a 2Mbit connection, they can throttle your connection speed to limit you to what you're paying for. If you pay for a 7MBit connection, they usually won't guarantee you'll always get that speed from them.

The speed between your ISP and any website on the Internet is no faster than the slowest connection between them. Even if you have a very fast Internet connection with a local ISP, a website hosted over a very slow connection somewhere on the other side of the world will still be served to you no faster than the remote host can provide it back to your ISP.