Well it seems EVERYONE is now having this problem (of previous fw versions).
I think sony has upped the "anti" (is that right?) and made changes to the encryption alg - obviously the PS3 does no more than connect and send the current fw version.
I checked it with wireshark yesterday and it no longer captures the certificate packet.
It seems sony has bypassed our bypass (yes it's possible) and made it so WE HAVE TO UPDATE TO USE PSN.
Worst thing that ever happend to playstation 3 owners.
And without a custom firmware for PS3 yet, we can't even downgrade to fix this!