> My problem was (as ?Frank Bruchman? pointed out) that the phone rings, 
> and says "RING" to getty which tries to log in user RING... Solution: ATQ1

I tried ATQ1 and it it helped - my modem now answers.  Thanks.

I do think this is more of a workaround than a solution, though.
Isn't the host supposed to ignore any input from the modem when CD is
low, unless the line has been specifically opened in nonblocking mode?

If NetBSD indeed tries to initiate a login (or even just tries to echo
the RING back to the modem) before the modem has raised CD, then
something in NetBSD is badly broken.
-- 
Andreas Gustafsson, gson@araneus.fi