The only reason you would need 4 wires in a phone cable is if you have two
lines. Each line requires two separate wires. Two, four or six wires within
the cable will have no effect on your modems performance.
Mark


Another thing to check is, did you use the phone cord  that came with the
>modem, most generic modem manufacter's put a 2 wire phone cord
>with their modem's. Name brand like USR put a 4 wire phone cord, check
>that
>plus the phone line coming to the house and the phone line coming to
>where you have your computer.
>To change the phone cord that came with the modem (if its 2 wire) then
>goto
>Radio Shack or K-Mart or Wal-Mart, and look for 4 conductor wire phone
>cord,
>also known as RJ 12 (I think).
>
>As for the house or apt. your probably stuck if its 2 wire. esp if it is
>an apartment.

>--Patrick Black
>