“Voice” vs. non-voice modems

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My system: PB Multimedia S605; Win95 upgraded to Win 98 SR-2; 64 MB RAM; Intel Pentium 266 MHz; 33.6 voicemodem. My question concerns “voice” modems vs. non-voice modems. My existing modem lets me make video phone calls with sound and video, of course. I want to install a faster (56K v90) modem. I’ve taken the advice to steer clear of “winmodems,” and I’ve chosen a USR 56K model that appears to be a “hardware” modem. (Ain’t it a shame the boxes don’t come marked with “winmodem” or “hardware modem”? Like, how do you know for sure?) Anyway, the new modem’s documentation and packaging don’t say anything about “voice.” Does this mean I won’t be able to conduct video phone calls with the new modem? If that’s the case, can someone help me understand what a “voicemodem” has that a “non-voice” modem doesn’t have? And if this new, faster modem doesn’t have what I need, is there some workaround via the sound card? Or should I find another modem with voice?

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Does this USR FAQ site give any answers?
My understanding of ‘voice’ modems was their ability to distinguish and route non-data calls (e.g. fax) to appropriate software, but there may be more to it than that.

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voice modems have the ability to distinguish fax and voice calls and can have an audio input to use as a sort of hands free and answer phone. This will not affect net phone etc as that is controlled by the software that takes your audio data from the soundcard (and hence from the mic) and encodes it for transmission as part of the TCPIP packets you transmit over the net. for example a webcam with a mic allows you to see and hear over the net but does not use any part of the modems voice capability.

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Great information! Thanks! Now I feel better about my selection.

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