On a 56k modem, speed is always 56kbit/s. Quality of Phone line, modem and modem settings can affect modem speeds. While adjusting phone lines and modem is not easy, one can adjust modem settings easily to enhance speed of a 56k modem in XP.
· Go to "Start," open "Control Panel."
· Open Modems section of Control Panel. Locate modem on list. Right click it and selct "Properties."
· Not down all default settings to restore default setting if anything goes wrong.
· Set Maximum Speed setting to 115,200bps. Untick "Only connect at this speed." The default modem setting will be adjusted to 9,600bps.
· Select Connection and make following changes in settings: set "Data bits" to eight, set "Stop bits" to one and set "Parity" to none.
· Click Port Settings, and make sure that slider of Receive Buffer is on High.
· Select Advanced, note down all default settings, and make following changes: tick "Compress Data", tick "Use flow control" and set "Software [XON/XOFF]" option blank.
· Press OK exit and try connecting to Internet with dialup modem. Connect a few times to get to find out if the settings have changed or not speed has increased or not.