Sharing DSL with router/networking

[jjennifer1971]

I am not very computer literate. We have a large family and just added a roommate. He brought a second computer and wants to share his DSL connection with us, dial-up is so excrutiating, especially with people waiting in line for their turns. Kids need to do school projects, and if we could get both on DSL, I'd like to finish my classes online, which I had to quit when we had computer problems before, now resolved.

The problem is, though it's perfectly legal, neither the router company nor the DSL company have been much help to us. The router company says call our provider. Our provider is too busy trying to sell us their router and support service, which we can't afford.

Anyone have any experience with this? Please help.