When i go down the router route is there going to be any hassle using that with freeserve as that is who i have my e-mail with and since i am regitered with lots of agencies with that address i would like to keep it.

As long as you continue to pay for an account with freeserve, your email address will not change. Whether or not you use a router has no bearing on this.

With dial up you need three things a phone number to dial, a user name and a password to log on is it similar with a router

No.

With a broadband connection you are now directly connected to their network, and there is no need for a password to access that network. The password is now only used for connecting to certain specific services such as email (your email software probably already has the password in place so you won't need to change it). And of course, now that you're not using a modem, there's no phone number to dial any more.

That's the point of brodband... a direct connection. You turn on the computer and it's on the network. No dialing, no passwords, nothing.

(At least that's how it works around here. I dunno about sunny Scotland, they might do things differently there...)