Hi Stacey, I really can't comment intelligently on the issue of the cd drives, but I'm sure someone will.
As for the dialup, I'd say it's about the same. I have sbcglobal here and have never been particularly impressed with their dialup speeds anyway, so it's hard to tell if it's the MPower modem or the actual sbc dialup connection. But, it does connect for whatever that's worth. Don
