Installing a modem is much like installing a video card. All you need to do is take off the cover to your case, find an empty card slot, remove the space holder, slide the card in and screw it in. If you have a voice modem, you will need to hook up an additional cable to your sound card. Please note that there are several different types of modems on the market. There are Winmodems and Hardware Modems. I recommend the hardware modems since they usually connect at better speeds and are usually quicker than Winmodems. Winmodems use software to emulate a hardware modem, and if you don't have a fast modem, you will not get a fast connection. There are also PCI and ISA modems. I recommend using a PCI modem simply because the PCI interface as a whole is faster. After you install the modem simply plug a phone line into it.

If you have Windows '95, you modem will most like be auto-detected. You may or may not have to insert an installation disk. If you have a Winmodem, you will need to insert and installation disk. When you have finished with this disk, make a copy of it. I have a friend who lost his and was unable to get the correct drivers from the manufacturer. These devices are very customized, so make sure you make a copy and keep it in a safe place.

First of all, what does modem stand for? Modem stands for Modulator/Demodulator, which basically means it changes data into a useable form. A modem is used to translate data from your computer into analog data to be transmitted over a telephone line, where on the other end another modem converts the analog data back into digital data. That is why you can't hook a regular modem up to a hotel line, because they use a digital phone system. To use a modem, you first send the modem its initialization commands, then you instruct it to dial up to another modem, which the other modem, when instructed will pick up the phone. The modems then go through a process called "hand-shaking" which they basically see how fast they can communicate with each other. You then either send or receive data. That is basically all there is to a modem, it is not a particularly interesting device. If you recall from above, I spoke of WinModems. WinModems work basically the same as above, but they need special software to control how it acts, instead of special chips like hardware modems.