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It may also be the case that you still have a regular or ISDN modem at home. These modems have been very popular in the 90-ties but during the last 10 years have been replaced with modern solutions based on cable or DSL. Still, if you own such a modem, it is possible to connect with it to the Internet (although the speed you get won’t be impressive at all.

Windomems

Winmodem is a generic term for a modem that uses software in place of hardware for certain functions. Software that runs on Windows, not GNU/Linux. For this reason, Winmodems should be avoided by GNU/Linux users, since a lot of them just do not work properly under Linux.

ISDN connection

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a circuit-switched telephone network system, designed to allow digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone copper wires, resulting in better quality and higher speeds than available with analog systems. More broadly, ISDN is a set of protocols for establishing and breaking circuit switched connections, and for advanced call features for the user.

ISDN itselft is supported under GNU/Linux, not not all ISDN modems are, due to lack of free drivers and specification from some providers.

External articles on modems

• Modem-HOWTO
• Diald Howto — article from TLDP.org
• Linmodem HOWTO — Winmodems in GNU/Linux

Some content on this page has been directly copied from the Wikipedia articles: ISDN.