I went to colorado for 3 months, came back, and my 56K modem is running at 14.4 at max… ive tinkered with all the settings and nothing seems to work Ive checked and its not the phone line… any ideas? i cant take this slowness anymore… im going to snap.
How do you know it’s not the phone line? Noise on the line is a major cause of slow connections. It could also be on your ISP’s end. Have you tried an alternate access number? Also, posting the modem make and model, and what OS you are using might help us give you better information.
ive tried two phone lines… neither of which connected at a faster speed which is why I assume that it is the computer or modem… it is a conexant softk56 modem. I am on windows ME…
and this situation still sucks 
You tried two phone lines or just two different phone jacks on the same line? If the latter, that does not rule out a line problem, since the problem could be in the wiring outside the house. Pick up a phone and listen to the dial tone. If you hear any buzzing, clicking, humming, static, popping or anything other than a crisp, clear dial tone, that could be the problem. Have you tried dialing a different access number? If no, you ought to do so, just to rule out a few things.
My brother is having the exact same problem atm.
2 lines, both giving 14.4, so it looks like it’s a wiring problem but outside the house.
Try getting hold of a laptop so you can test the line on a different system with a different modem.
I am assuming here that at some point you were getting connected at a faster speed. When was the last time it worked the way you want it to? What has changed between now and then? This kind of thing is always the result of change somewhere, the hard part is figuring out what. 
Monitor: What the heck was that for? It’s the modem you’re mad at!