Thanks a lot for the last round of asnwers from Rik Dunphy and Ken Archer; that solves the mistery and the problem. I reproduce their messages below. ** R Dunphy (...) did a look on support database and got this... http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/hoe_wv_perm_tty.html Seems it is a problem when the PPPD doesn't terminate correctly, which would explain why it only happens from time to time. The link includes a work around which basically gets the pppd to reset the permissions every time anyway. **K. Archer ***** According to the author of wvdial, it changes the permissions to root every time you run it and then changes it back when you close it. Sometimes, however, when it is not shut down properly, I think it should be Ctrl-C if I remember correctly, it doesn't have a chance to change the permissions back. You then have to do it manually. -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/