A Very Simple Question

[oh_cmon_thats_bullshit at yahoo.com]

I have a static IP Address which is listed below.  My setup behind an
SMC7004 NAT Router was as follows:

IP Address: XXX.YYY.154.236
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
GateWay: XXX.YYY.152.1

Domain: AAA.BBB.64.222, AAA.BBB.64.223

The SMC wanted you to access him at 192.168.123.1

I then routed Port 80 to 192.168.123.254 which was a Linux webserver
which had been assigned that IP address.

Ok, I decide to replace the aging SMC7004 and buy a NETGEAR WGT624
(probably my first mistake) which wants to be accessed on 192.168.0.1.

So, I change the web servers IP to 192.168.0.200 and begin to configure
the router using *the* *same* *exact* *parameters* as listed above.
However it will not let me enter the Gateway address because its not
the same at the third level.  It wants something in the XXX.YYY.154.xxx
range.  So, I have to let it pick its own and therein must lie the
problem I am guessing.

Not what is odd is that I get Internet service just fine (The WWW that
is) but I cannot ping myself?  I have gone to www.whatismyip.com and it
says I am at the address I am trying to ping.  Therefore, when I go to
find my website via the Internet, it cannot be found via
XXX.YYY.154.AAA.

I have had DSL since the early days and at that time Verizon provided
the signal and a small company that has since become Isomedia provides
the ISP service.  So, I call the ISP and the guy says I am NOT static
IP which is a bold faced lie.  I prefaced the call by saying I was
having trouble setting up my NAT router configuration, so he probably
had lots of reasons not to talk to me, but still I am paying $32 to
Verizon and 17.50 to Isomedia, so if I lose my static IP over this, so
be it, the wesites are not high traffic and if my DSL drops to $30 a
month, I can probably manage with a dynamic IP.

But I really want to know:

1.  Why would SMC allow me to configure that way and not the new
NETGEAR router?

2.  Could my ISP just give me a different gateway address in the same
range?  Unless none were available I suppose.....

3.  Why can't I ping myself?