diff --git a/phoned/config.y b/phoned/config.y
index a58eb8d..25517ae 100644
--- a/phoned/config.y
+++ b/phoned/config.y
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ int chrcnt = 0;
 int lincnt = 1;
 int yylex(void);
 extern char* yytext;
+extern struct conf cf;
 void yyerror(str)
 	char* str;
 {
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ devpath:
 	QUOTE PATH QUOTE
 	{
 		lprintf(debug, "Modem dev == %s\n", $2);
+		cf.modemdev = $2;
 	}
 	;
 %%
diff --git a/phoned/init.c b/phoned/init.c
index 0a13d74..227db86 100644
--- a/phoned/init.c
+++ b/phoned/init.c
@@ -39,5 +39,8 @@ void initialize(void)
 	open_logs();
 	install_handlers();
 	read_config();
+	if(init_modem(cf.modemdev) != 1) {
+		lprintf(warn, "warning: modem didn't initialise properly; see previous messages\n");
+	}
 }
 
diff --git a/phoned/modem.c b/phoned/modem.c
index 83421b9..43a230c 100644
--- a/phoned/modem.c
+++ b/phoned/modem.c
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ int init_modem(char* dev)
 {
 	int lres = 0;
 	modemfd = open(dev, O_RDWR);
-	if(!modemfd) {
+	if(modemfd == -1) {
 		lprintf(error, "Error opening modem %s: %s\n", dev, strerror(errno));
 		return -2;
 	}
diff --git a/phoned/socket.c b/phoned/socket.c
index e6beb07..d53f9f1 100644
--- a/phoned/socket.c
+++ b/phoned/socket.c
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ void handclient(sk)
 	lprintf(debug, "Client said %s.", buffer);
 }
 
-void network(void)
+void network(void) /* name is misleading because we also do modem IO here */
 {
 	int 		s, us, sn;
 	fd_set		fds;