A few years ago I had the same issue with a dial-up provider (not TELUS) and was told by their tech guys that dial-up speeds are never consistent and usually hover around 5kb but can sometimes reach 20kb. I asked your exact question about the 56k thing and was informed that 56k was the fastest speed available but likely unreachable. The next day I found a high-speed cable provider and am now enjoying about 9.4mb all of the time. I also canceled every service from the dial-up company because I felt that I was being lied to when they say 56k speeds.