cannot find canonical DNS on slmodem PPP connection

[Globe Trotter]

I have a strange problem on a PPP connection. I am using slmodem (logging in
from India) on travel. I get through fine, using slmodem on my PCTEL modem, and
get the following, but get a can not find canonical DNS. Hence I can not
connect to the web using linux. Any suggestions?

By the way, here are some details:

$ ifconfig 
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:708 (708.0 b)  TX bytes:708 (708.0 b)

ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol  
          inet addr:61.2.0.216  P-t-P:61.0.128.83 Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:80 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:3 
          RX bytes:302 (302.0 b)  TX bytes:5710 (5.5 KiB)




Also, this is the transaction when I used wvdial:




--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.54.0
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT172222
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT172222
CONNECT 44000
--> Carrier detected.  Waiting for prompt.
Welcome to UTStarcom Total Control HiPer ARC (TM)
Networks That Go The Distance (TM)
login: 
--> Looks like a login prompt.
--> Sending: username
Password: 
--> Looks like a password prompt.
--> Sending: (password)
~[7f]}#@!}!}!}
}?}!}$}%j}"}&[7f][7f][7f][7f]}%}&])S}6}'}"}(}"}1}$}%j}3}#} ]H~
--> PPP negotiation detected.
--> Starting pppd at Sat Dec 10 18:00:49 2005
--> pid of pppd: 2704
--> Using interface ppp0
--> local  IP address 61.2.0.216
--> remote IP address 61.0.128.83
--> primary   DNS address 61.0.128.65
--> secondary DNS address 61.0.0.5


And I get the following when I use fetchmail:

.......
fetchmail: couldn't find canonical DNS name of mailserver
 
When I use firefox or dillo, I also get the same thing. When I try to ssh out
to my work machine, I get temporary failure in name resolution.

Any suggestions/help? Btw, I am running Fedora Core 4 and the latest version of
slmodem.

Many thanks and best wishes!
Globe.

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