I prefer external to internal modems. I have a internal and it sh@ts me. Gives me IRQ problems with my Network card, a External modem users the irq that the port its on. So you don\'t use up more then needed. I\'ve got nearly ALL my pci slots filled, I\'ve got 1 free below my AGP card, most of the time the AGP slot shares the same IRQ address as the first PCI slot. So I’m not using it. .
I would of got a external modem, but i didn\'t have the cash at the time... I\'ve never had any problems with them. Another good thing about external modems is because they have there own power supply, they don\'t drain power from your computer. As well as if you have more then 1 computer, you can connect them to it without having to have your computer on.