OK, I've read the pppd, chat, and tip man pages until I'm blue in the 
face. I still can't tell what you have to do to actually get chat to 
interface with the modem.

I realize that you specify a port when you run pppd, and you specify a 
progrem, per suggestions a chat script. Is that all there is to it? or do 
you have to do something to the chat script to actually attach it to the 
serial port?

when I launch pppd, specify a port, speed and chat w/ a file, all I get 
with debugging on is "chat: alarm" and then "chat: alarm" and finally 
"chat: Failed".

I realize there could be  a problem with the chat script, but it doesn't 
even make the modem light blink (i.e. it's not sending a single character).

Any suggestions?