Welcome to LQ, Alexis.
The likely reason is that it hasn't been setup correctly. Connexant modems are called
WinModems for a very good reason - they require special software to run, and this software is written for, guess what! Windows. Many, many people have got their winmodems to work OK under Linux, but IMO it's more hassle than it's worth. If you take a peek over at
Linmodems.org then you might be able to find out if your particular modem is well supported.
Personally, I feel that any company that is so adamant that they won't even consider other OSs, then I am quite happy to be adamant about not considering them for hardware. I would ditch the winmodem and buy a (slightly more expensive) serial modem - they will work with Linux no probs. But that's just me!
Hope that helps.