If you encounter problems with ARA and Geoport check the following settings:
* Express Modem Control Panel
  - Turn Express Modem switch ON
  - Modem Port is set to use External Modem
* Speech Setup Control Panel
  - Turn Speech recognition OFF
* Remote Access Setup Control Panel
  - Modem type is set to GeoPort Telecom
  - Port is set to GeoPort
* Sound Control Panel
  - Sound out - 24KHz
If, after checking all of these settings, it still does not work, do the following:
1) Remove Serial Port Arbitrator from the Extensions folder
2) Turn virtual memory off
3) Turn file sharing off
4) Reset PRAM (Command-option-P-R at startup)