I've seen the discussions on people having problems getting their new 56k
modems to work at the higher speeds. One of the points I did not see
discussed is the distance from an analog line (your telephone line) to a
digital switch/circuit. In order to get 56K speeds (really 53K by a FCC
rule) the modem must be within 4 miles of a digital switch/circuit in order
to get the benefits of the higher speed. 56K modems rely on a digital
circuit. The line has to be:
Modem --> analog circuit -->digital circuit -->ISP. I got this information
from US Robotics. They have a line testing program that will test the line
to see if it meets the qualifications in distance between the modem and a
digital circuit.
Hope this helps,
Jim O'Brien