But why would the modem be answering so aggressively all the sudden?

You mean this jumper?
[Linked Image from imgur.com]

I had it in the 'off' position.. I pulled the card and swapped it back to 'on'?

fb19 and fb22 were same as they have always been, fb19 is the extension #, and fb22 is 450 on all the phones, it's the link to the VM that I've yet to wrap my brain around. (I don't do 'phones' for a living, just a really in-depth tech nerd.)

I'm really starting to think this has to be a setting on the LVMU that was lost since it's all happening at the same time.. Modem answering and the message button stopped working?