Uhh ... I might mention here ...
Are you in the city or are you in the country??
City phone lines are usuall fairly good and can
support a 56k modem but rurial ####ry phone lines
tend to be bad. I live in the country and the
best I can run is a 33k modem, a 56k just doesn't
work where I'm at.
So, depending on your phone lines, most any modem
will work. You can find good name brands really
cheap on EBay.