There was never a BB modem. The Xbox comes with an Ethernet adapter which you then hook up to the modem the cable company rents to you etc... There is no 56k. I don\'t think people are getting how much the Xbox team are against including a 56k modem or releasing one as a peripheral. Their logic is that the instant developers see the 56k modem they will program for it and the capabilities of BB will never be exploited on the Xbox. It is the fixed platform issue; the instant you provide a choice the developers will support the lowest common denominator and, in this case, that would be 56k. Their choice is certainly debatable but that is where Microsoft is coming from.
I would expect to see some online functions at release but not the online gaming Utopia that some have envisioned.