They (Linksys) were having me use the CD installation that didn't work, because the modem wasn't detecting the router. Then they had me use an online self-help configuration utility that had the same problem. Then they had me try doing hard-resets of the modem, router, modem+router and that didn't work. Finally they told me it was defective and to have it replaced.
So then I contacted Dell (who I ordered it from) and they had me do the CD configuration yet again, which still solved nothing. They told me to contact Linksys (been there done that) and finally told me they'd ship me a replacement.
Contacted Bellsouth (my ISP) for shits and giggles to see if maybe there were something on their end that was preventing the modem from communicating with the Router. They told me I had to bridge the modem first in order to use the router which we tried, and didn't work. And, yet again, they told me the router was defective and I should have it replaced.
Later that night I checked my e-mail and saw that Linksys had sent me a huge Troubleshooter e-mail. Found that all I had to do (and NONE of the tech support folks told me about) was run the Modem to the router and router to the computer as normal. Then power everything down.. power the Router up, then the computer and run default router ID in a browser to access the config menu of the router. Set it up to PPPOE (or something like that) then power everything down again. Lastly power up modem, then router, then computer.. and viola!