56k modems are not bad if you gang them......multilink that is....
i do that from home(no cable or dsl on the island)....i get 98kbps pretty easily.....all i needed was a second 56k modem and another phone line.......and for the most part my connection to bzflag(turkey specifically) runs about ~180-250ms......but my isp sucks, and so the ping rates go haywire every now and again.....
but it is a great alternative when dsl and cable is not available....
yep, Bad Cheese clued me in when i first moved, and lost my cable connection........if you had a bunch of free phone lines, and a bunch of modems.....you could have a pretty hot connection......but phone lines are not free.....dang........and hardware modems are a little pricey still........