OT: Heading toward DSL Road; looking for directions

[Krsqk]

Thanks for all the advice. I did get DSL, and I do have a router. My new situation is this: DSL works fine connected directly to the computer. The router works fine for home networking. The DSL connection is not recognized when the modem is run through the router's Internet port. Right now, of all things, I have the modem hooked up to the third standard port on the router, and the connection works. Is this okay? I can't see the firewall and packet filtering portions of the router functioning when the modem is treated as part of a LAN, as it seems this setup would do. Any ideas?