The wget ifconfig.me/ip retrieves the current IP. I don't think so that this can solved the problem.
Try do the following:
sudo /etc/init.d/tor start
sudo /etc/init.d/polipo start
then launch the Vidalia tool.
Go to Mozilla-->Edit-->Preferences-->Advanced Option and then at Network Tab. Click on Setting and select "Manual proxy configuration" and at SOCKS Host apply: 127.0.0.1 and Port:9050
Port 9050 is the default port that tor will open. You can check by doing sudo netstat -lntpud.
After novigate to newbielink:https://check.torproject.org/ [nonactive] to verify that you are using TOR network.