After suffering with being forced to access the net on Windows XP for over 2 weeks, I'm glad things turned out as I envisioned for I managed to get my device working on Debian with a lot of help. Here's what went into my /etc/wvdial.conf:
I had to run sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x1d09 product=0x4000 and
then sudo wvdial neotel afterwards and then I lived happily for
long...
Now why is XP so uncomfortable? I'm used to many of the conveniences of Debian that are absent in XP or I'm not motivated to find replacements for stuff like workspaces, copy-text-on-highlight, Epiphany, Quod Libet, debmirror, Nautilus, ...