I'm going to purchase a cell phone and one of the most important uses I have for it is to be able to dial on using my laptop. I run linux constantly and am not willing to log into windows just to surf (plus I plan on deleted winblowz as soon as I install slack 9.1.)

I have been trying to research this on my own but the information is far from concise and never mentions linux.

Any known successes are greatly appreciated.

I have used a Nokia 7190 (GSM) and an Nokia 6185i (xDMA) and both have a built-in 'modem' which means they just present themselves to the serial port as a modem. Alsoboth of these phones came with a data cable in the package (a data cable will typically run around $60 for a brand-name).

I have used the InfraRed port on the 7190 on both an IBM THinkpad and a Palm device. Works well, albeit at 9600bps (carrier limitation; the modem can do 14.4Kbps) but the 9600 is a true 9600 and wasn't much slower than the 33.6 connection I could get through most hotel phone systems.

You may also want to consider GPRS as well - the speed is higher and the connection charges are comparable to paying for your data rate airtime + dial-up ISP fees.

So if a phone discription says it has a built in modem then linux will recognize it as a serial modem no matter what? Will I need to find specific drivers or anything or will a phone just be seen as some generic modem driver?

In my experience it's just a plain vanilla modem. Not too sure about the newer phones which come with USB connections tho.