modem trouble

[jas@ops.sgp.arm.gov]

Hey all, I'm running a fresh install of 2.6 i386 (off a cd) with the generic
kernel. I'm having some trouble getting my modem to work. When I do a
'cu -l /dev/cua01' (which is my modem, I think, whatever cuaa1 is in fbsd),
it spits out a bunch of gibberish on the screen. The only thing I can do 
is send a ~. (no at, no nothing). Naturally, it's easier to blame the hardware
than admit you're wrong. So I changed out the modem, but it still does the 
exact same thing. I tried connecting to some of the other ports, but nothing
seemed to be there. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? 
 
Jeff
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