I managed to get a LinkSys router and put it in between the hub and this laptop and it seems like it’s working. I had a couple of problems with the internal firewall: apparently there was a conflict between ZoneAlarm and the router itself, but happened to find that an ipconfig /refresh (overriding the defaults) seemed to help.
I can even access my normal sympatico mail once again. Note that I don’t think it’s particularly smart to let the Wizard figure things automatically: better do it by hand (I did this before too with the WAP: had no problem). Though fancy looking, I doubt if it does a good job.
There’s a couple of things I have to do after: first of all reset the Debian server and assign it a better IP address. Secondly, update that server. Lastly: actually see if the other connection goes through or not.
(Update: 12:17 PM): Re: Debian. Got it. I had problems routing first. I misnamed the resolv.host file (had it called resolve.conf). Apt-Updating as we speak.