Modems were once thought of as somewhat extravagant, but with the advent of the Internet, they are becoming a necessity for home computers. They allow you to connect your computer to the Internet or other computer systems through a telephone connection. The term Modem stands for Modulator / Demodulator. It is a device that converts back and forth from the digital signals that computers understand to analog signals (sounds) that can be transferred over telephone lines. Modems can be internal or external. The external ones have their own little case and power supply, and are generally a little more expensive than the internal ones, which are little cards that fit inside the computer. Modems are rated by their transmission speed, which is measured in BAUD (Bits of Audio Data / Second). If you want to do any Internet connections, you need a baud rate of 1440 BAUD (also sometimes called 14400 BPS or 14.4 KBPS) You can also purchase faster modems, but they are of course more expensive. In the near future, something will happen in this arena. It is likely that we will be switching to a completely new kind of communication technology for home computers, but nobody knows exactly what that will be just yet. Some modems also include faxing and voice mail capabilities. These features can be very convenient for people with home offices.