This wireless connection has aged me about 30 years.

I have Verizon DSL with the Westell 327W router/modem.  It works just dandy when plugged directly into my Inspiron 8600.  We had a lot of problems with the original Netgear WG511T cards we originally purchased.  They worked for about 2 weeks and then quit.  We returned them to dell and now I have a Dell Wireless 1450 USB adapter.  Installed the adapter and software, but it could not connect to the router.  I checked security settings on the network and then went to 192.168.1.1 to make sure they matched with the modem.  Everything matched.  I returned to Dell support to see if there was a FAQ or something.  Then I decided to go back to 192.168.1.1 to adjust some of the security settings just to get the wireless connection up and running.  On MSN, typing http://192.168.1.1 went directly to a search screen.  Putting http://192.168.1.1 in Internet Explorer resulted in "Page cannot be displayed".  Now, I can't configure my modem at all and cannot connect wirelessly.  I tried to check "ipconfig" to make sure I was using the right IP, but the black screen comes up, flashes for a second, and then disappeared.  For the connection, I have checked "Obtain IP address automatically".  I tried Verizon's support.  The customer service is helpless and Verizon Online's Support center has been "gathering relevant system information" for the past hour.  I'm new at this, so if anyone could tell me what I'm doing wrong or walk me through this, please help.