ad hoc vs infrastrucyture mode

I have a netgear wge101 bridge connected via cat 5 to a nic on my
laptop. The bridge utility shows that I have access to two verizon
hotspots (channel 1 and 3) The problem is that the bridge will not
readily connect to the hotspot in infrastructure mode. When is does
connect the performance is slow and it breaks easily. On the other
hand when I switch the bridge to ad hoc mode it makes an immediate
connection, 90% strength and stays connected. But in ad hoc mode when
I fire up Explorer it can't find the verizon.net login page.

I have the latest firmware on the bridge. I have signed up with
verizon and tested my account so I know it works. Any suggestions?