You thought 'wrongly'.
"56k" is the theoretical maximum speed you can get across a (mostly analog) POTS service circuit. The limit is not in the wiring, per se, but in the _equipment_ (the 'switch' in the telco 'central office') that that signal has to pass through. "Voice" calls, including data modem, and fax, over POTS PSTN, leave your house as analog signals. at the telco, the first thing that happens is that they are converted to a _digital_ data-stream. this conversion is done at a rate of 8000 samples/second., with 8-bits of data 'precision' for each sample. This means that there is 64,000 bits/second of digital data flowing through the switch for a voice line. You cannot send more data than that via _analog_ origin signalling, And, to achieve that 64,000 bit/second, your signalling must exactly match (and be synchronized with) the intervals used by the analog-to-digital conversion gear in the C.O. If there is _precisely_one_ analog/digital conversion in the path, then, with some fancy games on the 'digital' end, you can come 'close' to that 64,000 bit/sec limit, _without_ requiring the exact synchronization.
The _wire_, itself, is capable of passing a much broader range of signals. *If* the signal doesn't have to go through the 'voice' switching equipment, you are not restricted by the limits of _that_ equipment.
This is how DSL works, it bypasses the _voice_ switching gear. It uses just the 'bare wire' between the telco C.O. and the customer premises. The special eqipment in the C.O. puts a *different*kind* of signal on the wires, that the "DSL modem" at the customer premises understands, and the 'modem' at the customer location does 'something similar', to communicate back to that special equimpent at the Telco offices.
Voila! the limitations/restrictions of the telco _voice_ switching equipment are bypassed, and thus 'not relevant' to this communication.