what does activating a device mean (redhat w/ gnome)

Hi. I recently installed RedHat Linux 9 and having quite a bit of trouble connecting to the web. I've read up about winmodems and hopefully mine isn't one, but I have a question. I created a new network modem device and it said it was "Active". What exactly does this mean? I see no way to connect to the net, all I see is that my network device is Active, yet I can't go to any websites.

Please help a linux newbie! Thank you!

Which device is this? /dev/eth0?

It's using device: /dev/ttyS0

/dev/ttyS0 is one of your serial ports. You may have to still configure your internet access with the phone numbers of your ISP and stuff like that.

what exactly are you trying to do? are you dialing to a modem and going out to the internet ?