Modem Problem

've reinstalled SuSE 7.1/ KDE3.0 on one of my machines and am having a bit of a problem. When I dial out the modem connects without any problems and maintains the connection. I can ping (in a terminal) with no packet loss. Unfortunately, none of the applications, Netscape, etc. seem to find the connection. Any insights as to the solution to this will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance