> What I think I want is for the wireless router to employ a pass through
> DHCP call to the first router so that it is in effect, one network.
> Again, I am not well versed in this so it is a trial and error.
>
> Am I making this too complicated in my mind?

Yes, sort of.

You're on the right track regarding having one DHCP server if you're going
to have just one subnet. If you're using WPA security on the WiFi then it's
not unreasonable to use just one subnet. But if you're going to leave the
wifi unprotected it's a good idea NOT to have it on the same subnet. It's
OK to do this (assuming you want to share the wifi or something) but it's
not without adding configuration work.

When you tack on wifi to a wired network the 'simplest' way to do it is as
an access point. That way it's just a connection, not a routing point. It
merely passes the DHCP packets onto the wired network. It's common to also
disable all server 'features' on the wifi router and let it operate just as
an access point. Then plug a wired connection from the existing network
into one of the LAN ports on the wifi router. This to avoid any features
that might depend on using the WAN port on the wifi router. This works
pretty well.

> The question on hardware really was more about what someone might
> suggest given the goal of reliability. Just looking through the online
> descriptions of routers, I have seen some of the routers described as
> having QoS functionality... should I be looking for things like this?

QoS is great, if you've got all devices involved supporting it. That
includes the uplink gear at your ISP. It's a way for higher priority
traffic to get passed through faster in the event of other activity. This
is important for stuff like voice over IP. But it's not going to be
terribly useful if your ISP isn't also supporting it. Sometimes the router
hardware will be better in order to support the features (more CPU speed,
ram, etc).

-Bill Kearney