vi won't work with any TERM setting

["r.l." <rl@ses.tas.gov.au>]

hello

Problem is that no matter what TERM setting I use, and I've tried everyone
listed in terminfo, I cannot get vi to operate correctly. The closest TERM
value is 'sun' which will use the full screen idea ok but neither the
cursor keys nor h/j/k/l will move about the page. Other TERMs produce
rather worse responses. 

I've also tried stty sane and looked at individual stty options, to no avail.

I am connecting to 'potato' via telnet from a solaris box which I interact
with via an OpenWindows xterm. I have also tried a vanilla telnet app. and
get the same results. 

I am new to debian, having arrived here from Solaris via (a brief stop at)
redhat. Not being able to edit files is a bit of a handicap at this early
stage.

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks

Rolf.