Mikkel:
Do you have any other network interfaces?
No (just that one).
If you have a default route set, then it is probably not going to be changed when the PPP connection comes up.
I didn't explicitly set the default route. Do I need to?
If you can ping by IP address, but not host name, then check /etc/resolv.conf to make sure the name servers are being updated.
I didn't check a system that has a name (just my dsl-connected machine). I'll try a named system.
Bruce:
I don't know if the drivers have gotten better but when I used dial-up internet access with Linux several years ago, I had to get an external modem that I found in the Hardware Compatibility List (US Robotics, I think) before I could connect. I spent many hours trying to configure several Winmodems and never succeeded. Once I switched to a modem that was documented as being Linux compatible, it was easy.
I had that system on F6, and it worked splendidly. I breezed thru the config (my first attempt at configging dial-up on linux!)
Then I upgraded to F8. Frankly, I think that something changed with respect to dial-up (e.g. F6 didn't use wvdial).
The first time I installed F8 on that machine, I used the CD (which didn't ask which packages to install - so I figured that it assumed I was totally in the 21st century). This time, I used the DVD, and made sure that I chose the packages.