What things should I look out for when buying a modem, I live in england so I don't have access to all those fancy speedy modems you Americans might have, however I know you should look for speed but else do I look for because there seems to be other terminology that I'm not familiar with, oh yeah I also know a little about the ports and external an internal, I'm looking to buy an external one 56k anything else I should be looking out for??
Thanks

That's OK; we're a UK-based publication...
If you're planning to use only Windows (if not, bear in mind that some of the cheaper 'winmodems' only work under Windows), then probably the simplest approach is to go for a USB connection (assuming your machine has a USB port).
Otherwise go for a standard serial connection. A V.90/56K modem will do for now, and should be cheap enough that if you need to upgrade in the future (to cable, ISDN, ADSL, etc.) you won't regret the purchase.

I concur with Alex on the choice of a V90,however my preference is for an internal "hardware" version available for around £25 - 30.My reasoning being ease of driver installation over software modems (also known as winmodems) and the compatability issues found with a few usb modems (unless apparently you run win 98 ).