Hi, I know myself around linux quite well, but there are some things I cannot figure out with the N900:

When I have WLAN connection, then really everything works. I can surf the web and the access to my IMAP e-mail (on a private server) works just fine.

When I have no WLAN, but the "internet connection" provided by my provider (debitel), then I can still surf the web in the same way (a little slower, of course), and the e-mailer pretends to be connected and does NOT give any error messages when I ask to "send and receive" e-mails - but in reality nothing ever arrives. It gives me some indication of activity, but the inbox is actually never refreshed, and clicking on those mail headers that are still there never opens them.

I am reasonably confident that this has nothing to do with my contract which is an internet flatrate that should in theory allow everything - but I find it annoying that I cannot figure out what to do, nor who to complain to. I am sure that, if I ask debitel, they will say "N900? Never heard about this thing".

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

(I have already posted this same question at another forum - but it seems rather dead there, hence I hope it is ok that I try here with the same question)

Is your private server in the same network as your WLAN by chance?
If so I'd wager the firewall doesn't let you connect from the outside.
Can you access your mail server from a laptop tethered to the n900 to use it's connection?

thanks, but no, the server is the one of my job (a major research lab) and, with my laptop, I can reach it from everywhere, even through my umts-card. But the n900 doesn't somehow "quite reach it", although it doesn't give any error message either...

Try to access the server with your laptop through the N900 (BT modem) and see if that works.

The important question: HOW do you try to access your email? IMAP has several different versions.

I have no idea if your provider gives you access to ports other than 80 and 443 but that would be interesting to investigate.

with thunderbird for opensuse, I access the imap server through port 993 - have yet to figure out what I am using on the n900, but I am sure I use the default, whatever it is.

that sounds awfully complicatedto me... I would have to set this up from opensuse somehow - and I am not sure what I would learn from it...