What's this chip from my W500?

[cultOfThinkpad]

When I took apart my Thinkpad W500, I found this odd looking chip which I haven't been able to identify.





Can anyone tell me what it is?

Thank you.

[theterminator93]

That's the modem card.

[cultOfThinkpad]

Pardon me for asking a dumb question but what's it for?

I mean I kinda know what a modem is but as long as I have a Wi-Fi card
or ethernet, does it make it redundant?

[theterminator93]

A modem was used to allow PCs to connect via plain-old-telephone-service phone lines for internet and faxing. It was how computers got online through the early 2000s. Speeds peaked at 56 Kbit/s (that's a theoretical max download speed of less than 7 KB/s, fwiw - in reality due to several factors downloads would peak at 4-5 KB/s) which prompted the advent of various broadband internet technologies - DSL, cable, satellite and direct fiber connections.

I have a modem in my W520 and I also have a VoIP dial tone at home (for our home security system) that I occasionally use to send faxes. Aside from that (and anyone in rural areas without broadband internet infrastructure access who still use dial-up to get online), it's obsolete technology.