Quote Originally Posted by lateralus
Of course a modem can get an i.p. address. They're dynamic (they change every time you sign on). If a modem couldn't get an i.p. address, how does a web server know where to send the data to?Well, it's either your firewall settings, or you haven't enabled direct connections in your AIM settings.

Notice I mentioned 3 distinct types of modems. A dial up modem does not have any capacity to obtain an IP address that I am aware of and I worked for a modem manufacturer for 4 years. It's simply a dumb pipe that connects between point a and point b. The IP that is assigned when you dial in to AOL or Earthlink or any other provider is assigned at the ISP end and only to the server that the modem is attached to. At the ISP end the modem is usually connected to some kind of RAS (remote access server) along with a boatload of other modems. The RAS, which IS connected to a network knows which port to requested a given web page and sends the data from that web page back to the correct port. That being said, most ISP's are now using ISDN PRI's as opposed to dedicated lines and each channel on the PRI is assigned an IP address. Which, along with compression algorithms and cacheing technology, accounts for the so called high-speed dial up connections being advertised by folks like NetZero. So basically, since a dial up modem is not directly connected to a network, it cannot obtain an IP address.