[Dooby]

modem stands for modulator/demodulator ( or modulation/demodulation... something like that ) Basically the digital signal from the computer is modulated into an analogue signal to send down the wire, then the response is demodulated into a digital signal to pass to the computer. I am not sure if the BB network uses analogue signals over the wire, but I would guess that it still does, as does ADSL ( thats why you need a splitter, otherwise you would hear loads of static or something on the phone line ... bit like picking up the phone when a dialup modem is using it, or so I have been told, I dont have ADSL so cant try it )