For e-commerce, however you will want as fast a connection as possible. This converts a single telephone line into two separate completely digital lines capable of carrying 64,000bps in full duplex. They can also be used together to give a 128K connection. For home and small business use, BT's Home Highway is one way to implement this as installation includes a wall-mounted box that lets you continue using your ordinary telephones. Think about cable modems.
Cable modems offer even faster access, in theory at least, to anyone with cable installed.
This is because they can be permanently connected. The lines slow down according to the amount of users, leading to frustrations familiar from dial-up access. Using a phone line. However, the usual option for businesses connecting to the world is the traditional leased line, available in capacities ranging from 64Kbps through to 2Mbps and beyond. You can either pay a flat fee for your access or pay per megabyte of traffic coming down your line.