oday we?re going to take a look at modem cards, what they are, what they do, why they?re important. Back in the 1960s, someone had a brain-wave: Instead of developing a totally new method of sending data between computers, why not develop something that would ?piggy-back? on the telephone network that, by then, had already reached such a level of maturity and stability that it really did span the world?

So someone did and called it a modem ? that?s an acronym of MODulater/DEModulator ? in essence a piece of technology that converts electronically stored data into a form to be transmitted over a telephone wire (that?s the modulation bit), and also converts data it receives in modulated form, into a form recognisable and useable by a computer (hence the demodulation bit).

Today modems are small enough to fit into the back of your computer as an additional card, or even smaller for laptop computers. Though they are still considered to be slow, you should remember that today they are being compared with DSL broadband (which we will cover in a future article), so 56kbps (the absolute maximum you can expect to get from a modem) is actually pretty fast. Also, rarely do modems simply ?drop-out? as they used to in the eighties and early nineties ? today they are more tolerant of extra noises on the telephone line, which used to be a major cause of unexpected disconnection.

Most Internet Service Providers will have a ?dial-up? option amongst their Internet connection tariffs ? that relates to modems. To operate a modem, you will typically need a telephone number to dial, a user account to login (though not always required), and access to an analogue telephone line (note that connection to a digital exchange such as those in most offices will not work without additional hardware components).

Many modems have two telephone connection sockets on, which is a source of confusion for many earthlings like us. Only one of them will work and allow you to connect to the internet. The two connections will be labelled, if you look closely ? one will say something like ?Line? and one will say something like ?phone?. Many earthlings will connect their computer using the phone connection, but this is incorrect ? you should use the line connection.

The most common problem for a modem is usually a problem at the ?ISP end? ? that is ? a transient problem at the site you are dialling, which will usually pass in about twenty or thirty minutes. The issue is that earthlings, because that?s what we?re like, will begin in earnest trying to determine what is wrong on their computer, and the risk is that they will change something on their computer that will cause the dial-up connection to stop working anyway. Should you encounter an apparent dial-up problem when trying to connect, the best advice is to walk away and make a coffee, or make a sandwich, watch some TV ? anything ? but leave the computer for thirty minutes or so. If you continue to experience dial-up problems and you are pretty sure you haven?t made any major changes, then begin with your ISP support number ? they are usually extremely helpful and will help you troubleshoot and diagnose your problem, even if it turns out to be something on your PC. Do this first, before presuming there is a problem with your PC. Very often you will find that your ISP is aware of the dial-up issues and will give you an estimate as to how long it will be before normal service is resumed.

If it does turn out to be a problem with your PC modem, its settings or its cable, then unless you know what you?re doing, don?t play with your modem settings yourself without guidance, you could make it so that it doesn?t work at all. Speak again with your ISP, and if they won?t help you can usually obtain some free telephone advice from any of a number of computer shops/companies in Bermuda.

Next time we?re going to take a look at the first of three articles covering CDs, CD-RWs and DVDs.