ppp.conf is a configuration file. It is plain
text and would be edited with...
vi /etc/ppp/ppp.conf
...however, if you go the the /etc/ppp directory
(cd /etc/ppp) and look at what is in there
(ls -l), you should see several files. If you
were able to connect before your admin left,
you should still be able to (unless the admin
removed or changed somthing). You should see
some sort of "ppp-on" and "ppp-off" scripts
(or somthing like that). The "on" script normally
will set up the appropriate variable (PHONE,
USERID, PASSWORD, etc.) and execute the pppd
program. Obviously, the documentation is the best
source for this information and what I've given
you here may or may not be true for your system.
Anyway, I hope this helps.