I suspect a true consensus doesn't exist (who would be the arbiter?). But I would appreciate some personal preferences and reasons to help me consider the choices.
I currently have an old Dlink 604 hooked up to a Charter Cable modem. I will soon be installing an AT&T DSL line/modem as an alternate for backup, but if Charter doesn't clean up it's act, DSL will eventually be primary/only. A nice feature would be dual WAN ports for the cable & DSL connections that can be explicitly chosen via Web configuration (I would never want to try simultaneous operation).
Functions I need to have are at least 4 FE or Gbe ports, full port auto negotiation (I now have 2 Gbe PCs and 1 FE - a Gbe NAS device will follow later. Wired connections only - I have a touch of Luddite in me :-) I need to drill a NAT hole for 1 VPN.
I'm not focused strictly on the $40 cookie cutter whiz-bang line of firewalls. Higher cost is OK as long as it buys something. TIA