New WiFi Set Up

I have a laptop connected to Bt broadband via adsl modem. I have attached a
conexant wireless modem router via ethernet from the router to the host. I am
having terrible trouble connecting to the internet via the router. I have set
up the LAN & WAN connections for the router but the line is still trying to
dial using the old adsl modem and wont connect without it. Am i
misunderstanding the term wireless router. Can anybody tell me how to do
this. Once i have it set up the other laptops should be able to pick it up as
a hotspot but i'm struggling with this first part
Much Obliged
John McCann