Because a modem was designed to do something that the transport layer
was never designed for. The data transport layer was designed to carry
audio and a limited bandwidth of audio at that. A modem converts digital
data to audio and then reconverts it to digital data at the far end.
Actually takes quite a lot of electronics to do that reliably. Modems
are much more complex then an Ethernet card. For example an Ethernet
card uses 4 wires to move data. 2 for transmitting, 2 for receiving. A
modem has to combine transmit and receive onto a single wire pair and
still move data in both directions at the same time.

Add to that a now lower volume of modems being sold and the price stays
fairly high.

Cheers,

Davidm 

On Mon, 2003-03-10 at 17:24, sundar narayanasamy wrote:
> I looked at some external modem at Fry's around $70. Why a modem is so 
> expensive compared to ethernet cards?
> 
> Sundar
> 
> On Monday 10 March 2003 10:19 am, you wrote:
> > If you can find one that is NOT a Winmodem it should work fine.  Reality is
> > you can get an external modem for a lot less than an internal one that is
> > not a Winmodem.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: sundar narayanasamy [mailto:linux@esaravana.com]
> > Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 5:12 PM
> > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > Subject: Re: Suggestion for good 56K modem for Linux
> >
> >
> > Thanks Jim. Does that mean that I have to use external modem for hardware
> > modem. My office room is already littered with hubs, routers and what not,
> > so I would prefer to have internal modem.
> >
> > Is there any internal modem that will work good with Linux?
> >
> > Sundar
> >
> > On Monday 10 March 2003 08:28 am, you wrote:
> > > On Mon, 2003-03-10 at 15:18, sundar narayanasamy wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > >
> > > > Could you guys suggest me a good and less expensive modem for Linux? As
> > > > far as online I researched, I was suggested to get any hardware modem.
> > > >
> > > > I already have a modem which Kudzu says as 'Intel Corp. | DSVD modem'.
> > > > Since I pulled it out of my closet, I really don't know anything more
> > > > than that. But, all I know is wvdialconf doesn't see it once I log in.
> > > >
> > > > Any help is appreciated.
> > > >
> > > > Sundar
> > >
> > > Almost any external modem should work like silk with Linux.  I have a
> > > Motorola Modem Surfr and never had a problem with it being recognized.
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change  you mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change  you mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change  you mail settings:
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
-- 
David IS Mandala
gpg fingerprint 8932 E7EF CCF5 1B8C 1B5C A92E C678 795E 45B2 D952
Phoenix, AZ (480) 460-7545 HP, (602) 741-1363 CP
http://www.them.com/~davidm/