iMac 350 modem problem

[Gregory Cortelyou]

My mother's iMac 350 has apparently got a damaged modem. She remembers 
some sort of telephone line surge problem due to a reported "switching" 
problem between Verizon and AT&T. Since then her modem will not connect 
either in 10.2.3 or in 9. I have tried to get it back by following 
someone's suggestion to update the modem with the 2.0 modem firmware 
update. The update found the modem, updated it successfully but still 
no connection. You hear the dialtone, you hear it dial, but it makes 
unusual clicking sounds before and after dialing and it never connects. 
I wanted to try installing an external USB modem but was skeptical as I 
have heard reports that if an internal modem is present, the USB will 
not work under any circumstances. First question, is that true?
We went to CompUSA to try to buy one but the only ones they had were 
made for Windows machines and nobody there knew anything about Macs. 
Really!  We went to the Apple Store in Huntington LI and the "genius" 
there said there is no such thing as a USB modem. He went on to tell my 
mom that her computer was so old it was not worth doing any work on. I 
told him the computer is perfectly fine, she is not going to buy a new 
one today, just help us please to find out what we can do. He said we 
could bring it in but could not guarantee that parts were still 
available for such an "old" machine. Sorry for this long post, but does 
anyone know if I can hook up a USB modem and have it work for her? 
Unfortunately Verizon DSL is not yet available in her area and she does 
not want cable people coming in due to some non legit tv hookups.
Thanks for any help.
Greg 

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