Well, Thanks for all the advice from the list.
My Guru friend tried everything and we still could not get the WAN settings up. This USB modem connects ( or tries to), via an emulated ethernet connection. This iMac 500mhz on 10.3.8 just does not want to do it.We have told my friend to return his USB modem and get an ethernet modem. Estimated connection time: 10 minutes.
Kev
