Success at Last...
It took some doing, but it worked out. With a little help from an anonymous friend (on a message board) I was able to finally connect with Starbucks WiFi as provided by T-Mobile. Turns out you needed to download the 128 bit encryption version of IE. You also need to change the ssid, and some of the connection settings. So, it works, but it's not pretty.

The whole PDA experience with WiFi is not all it will become yet. The support people did not know too much, as I've said. The other flakey thing that kept happening was that the connection kept not working and I could not reconnect and had to release and renew the ip address on the PDA. I tried out my laptop too. That was easier. One issue is that you canot log out with the PDA. They told me that you need to just "turn off" your PDA for 5 minutes and you are logged off automatically. I was easily able to get any of my POP3 accounts on either device, or yahoo mail.

Most people are saying that t-mobile's service is too expensive - $29.95/month for unlimited service anywhere in southern California. That is a lot when broadband is $40/month and can easily be set up to work anywhere in your house - where you probably spend more time than Starbucks. On the other hand, Starbucks is everywhere, like gas stations, but with only one brand. So many in fact that many people go to many different ones in the course of the month. In Califormia alone there looks to be something like 1000, and around 50+_in the local area where I live (San Diego). Boingo, on the other hand, charges $75/month for unlimited access (nationwide) where there less than Starbucks has in California alone. In San Diego, there are only 15 Boingo WiFi spots (including a persons home and couple of cafe's and some hotels). Oh yea, you can use your T-Mobile service in the Admiral's Club (American Airlines) too.