There in is the issue^...

Chances are your Dell may not even recognize the network the N800 see's.

I found this to be true while using the free EarthLink service in downtown Philadelphia.

The N800 will sniff the service where others don't even register it. It will show bars in colors other than green (brownish) when this is the case.
When that happens all I can do is connect with a local IP but no TCP/IP. Interestingly though, the feed reader can update sometimes. (maybe it uses a different protocol or port)

I was frustrated with my first day's attempts in Philly. Then I realized that I would attempt to connect as soon as I found signal. (after parking the car, etc.) I was about to bag it and even had a post ready claiming it was another BS attempt by Nokia, blah, blah.

Later that week I gave it a second try and I'm glad I did. This time I only attempted to establish a network connection where I saw other users connected. I got green bars and the connection configuration punched through with all available protocols.

As a bonus I found that the N800 would hold on to the connection longer than the other devices while we walked around. I'm guessing this made hand offs to other EarthLink transmitters easier. Other devices would drop the connection entirely than have to reconnect.

In summary the N800 seems to be very sensitive to available signal but it doesn't give you a lot of info regarding connection quality. Now I use the connection manager to locate signal prospects then I walk around to find the green bar "sweet spot" before attempting my initial connection.