when i tried to connect it says that it is being used by another telephony device. i have never used this port on my machine.

Well, YOU may have never used the port, but something is using it. Dunno how to tell what's using it, but something sure is.

Could be anything, like it could be your computer vendor's remote-support feature waiting to answer or something.

Anyone know of a piece of software that'll tell you what app has got the COM port locked open?