Problems connecting to Net although wireless connection excellent

I have an IBM Thinkpad T41p w/ 8.011a/b/g. At home (Washington, DC) I have
an Orinoco Residential Gateway and I connect wirelessly to the Net w/ no
problems. My primary ISP is Earthlink.net.

This last weekend I visited a friend in New York (Manhattan--upper west
side). I immediately linked to his Linksys wireless system (his ISP is
Verizon). Signal was in the excellent range. However, I was not able to
connect to the Net. With the same settings, my old Dell i800 used to hook
up flawlessly. I was at a loss to figure out what the problem was. I did
notice that Verizon now has a public phonebooth hotspot within a few feet of
my friend's apartment building. Could that be causing interference?

(By the way, I was able to connect using a modem, so I know all my settings
were correct.)

Can anyone shed any light on this problem? Thanks.

Ina