New Airport Network - issues with some specific features

Question

Hello,
I have just changed my wifi system for an Airport Network, with one AirPort Extreme and 2 AirPort Express. The goal was to extend the wifi network to the entire house. Everything is fine, all my computers are able to connect to the network and are able to access the internet. The AirPort Network is connected to the internet with the PPPoE procedure.
The issue is very specific here.
1. I use Outlook 2007 to handle my e-mails. Since I have shifted to the AirPort Network, Outlook is not able to connect to pop server anymore for 4 of my 5 accounts. Hotmail (pop) is functionning alright but Gmail is blocked !
2. Windows Update is also unable to connect to the appropriate server.
Maybe there is more but it's all I have noticed so far. I have not changed a single parameter by myself on my computers and both are affected the same way.
I first thought it was a firewall issue but disabling my software firewall (Bullguard) did not change anything. Vista Firewall is not active. Maybe is it the internal firewall of the AirPort Extreme ? But that would not explain why Outlook can send messages (smtp works fine).
Any idea or similar experience ? Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
AdG

Answer 1

Maybe my problem is just bad luck ! I might have shifted to my new network
the wrong day. One day earlier, I would not have seen any difficulty... if this is it.
Quakes slow cyber connections
By Zhu Shenshen | 2009-8-18 | NEWSPAPER EDITION
SHANGHAI'S international Internet connections slowed significantly yesterday after earthquakes rocked Taiwan and southern Japan. It was unclear last night how long repairs might take. Millions of Chinese Netizens were unable to connect to overseas Websites or use popular online chat tools yesterday afternoon.
About 15 million MSN instant message users in Shanghai and other parts of China were affected as the main servers are in the United States. Connections to most overseas Websites including those run by Yahoo and the New York Times were also clogged.
The chain of events that led to the service disruption had its origin in Typhoon Morakot, which struck Taiwan on August 7 and led to a later breakdown in an undersea telecommunications cable system.
Local Internet traffic was not influenced because transmissions were routed to a backup channel. But that cable failed yesterday near Busan, South Korea, apparently the victim of the earthquakes, according to China Unicom.
The failure affected Asian communications to the US and Europe.
The epicenter of the first quake, which struck at 8:05am yesterday, was about 188 kilometers southeast of Hualien on Taiwan's east coast at a depth of 11km, the island's weather bureau said. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.7.
The second quake, which was centered close to the first at a depth of 20km and struck at 6:10pm, measured 6.1, the Taiwan weather bureau said. It was also felt in Japan's Ishigaki Island.
"We've sent a team to repair the broken cable, but we can't give a detailed timetable for when it will be completed," said Song Guixiang, a public relations official for China Telecom.
The schedule will depend heavily on weather conditions, Song said.
Repairs are handled by a team comprising the carriers that use the cable.
In most cases it takes one to two months to fully repair damaged undersea cables. In the meantime, telecom operators will try to reroute traffic to operating cables and satellite systems.
Domestic Internet connections and international call services were normal yesterday, the carriers said.