Basic Dedicated E-Comm.
Modems are devices that use standard analog phone lines to transmit data.
Modem stands for MOdulator - DEModulator. You will never achieve speeds as high as 56K. Expect to connect at about 42 - 48K, and only if the ISP you sign up with supports the protocol that your modem supports. If not, you'll be paying huge phone bills. The only way to be sure is to find out what their local access numbers are. Otherwise, you could get burned for a couple hundred bucks when your phone bill shows up, and you already used your phone for another couple weeks towards the next bill.