Slow modem connection with desktop.

Hello to all and thanks for any and all help. A friend of mine has a new desktop computer that will only connect to his ISP in the low 20k's. He is running XP Home Edition with SP1 and all updates. It is an E-Machine with an Athlon processor and 512 megs of ram.
We have ruled out the phone line, as his work laptop (also new) connects in the high 40 to low 50k range.
Would this be a driver issue or a modem problem. I've searched the web, and haven't came up with an answer, so I decided to ask all the knowledgeable people at Major Geek's for their advice and solutions.
I did search the archives, before this posting asking for help!

 

Thanks robo and xflat for your help and suggestions. I will have my friend try them all next week!

 

a hardware modem

i bought a new win modem it was us robotics it was a internal had a slow speed 29k 30k . itried ahardware modem us robotics went to 41k to 45k it is a serial connection external hook up works great.