Anyone think they can shoot an idea of what im doing wrong?

T-Mobile Blackberry 7100 v4.0.2.49
Blackberry Desktop Manager 4.0.1.12
Dell Inspiron 2200 w/ Windows XP Home Edition

the laptop finds the modem, not a problem. i setup the modem strings, the connection connects, i get an ip (gateway always appears to be the same as the ip which could be the issue) and I cant connect to anything. no aim, no web, traceroute isnt happening, pinging is a joke (cant even ping my own ip). what am i doing wrong?