Well, I'm back finally. SBCGlobal said the new modem would be here in 3-5 days. It only took day 7 to finally get it here.
But here's the best part:
My wife put in the order for it on Thursday, May 1st. SBC said 3-5 days. We opened the box and the packing slip showed the order having been placed on Monday, May 5th, to ship out that day. We get it on Wednesday. What great customer service.
Wow, only 4 days of lag...either they're lazy or their computers suck. I think an old Atari 2600 could have acknowledged the order faster than that.
Needless to say, I now know more of the pain of internet withdrawal.
(which is pretty much the same as visiting my father and using his 56k modem, ugh)