You would still need to be somewhat near the modem that your desktop computer uses.

Plugging into a phone line won't get you onto the internet , unless you were to use dial up but then you'd have your phone line tied up.

before we went wireless we had a Ethernet cable strung along the edges of the wall from the phone line/ modem in the living room to the dining room where the computer is.
Put a rug over it where it went across the hallway.
I didn't want to drill holes in the walls or the floor, so we waited for wireless to come down in price.

Does your Verizon modem have more than 1 place in the back to plug in Ethernet cables?
Ours only has one plug for that size so we had to get a router for more than one computer to use the connection.
plus the router sorts out the information when more than one computer is using the connection.

here's a quick guide with info about wired connections.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4811447_conn...d-network.html

Wired vs Wireless Networking
http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/h...ewiredless.htm

Routers don't cost very much at all anymore.

sample of wired routers/prices on Amazon -
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=...nid=1248877011

wireless router prices -
http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=12512605...89&sort=pmrank


long ago we had no router and only dial up so only one of the computers could be online at a time.
then son made a spare old computer into a server which worked as a router for multiple computer connections but still dial up back then.