....I also have a PCMCIA slot and an old modem card from a previous laptop, so that might be a better option than wrestling with a winmodem. I don't know yet....
The old PCMCIA modem card might not be a fax modem. If the laptop does have a "good old" DB-9 serial port connector, then going to Best Buy (or CompUSA, etc.) and getting something like a Creative Blaster analog RS232 serial modem might be also quite easy and painless.
I have a strong aversion to external peripherals dangling off a box... looks too much like a high school science project. And external modems are known to get very hot. I used one somebody gave me to keep my coffee cup warm. :)
That Blaster is pretty much the internal modem I had in a previous machine I built. Maybe I should just revive that old dog with a new motherboard and CPU. But hmm, I think that Blaster card needed an ISA slot. Don't know if new mobos have those anymore. (?)
Robert, you're probably right all 'round.
Thanks.