I can now get onto Pipex via ADSL but Pipex e-mail and webpages aren't
working, whereas they are by dialup to a different ISP. But I don't
want to disconnect the ADSL as it takes many attempts to
reauthenticate at the moment, due to problems at Pipex.

So: I tried an experiement. Leaving my computer connected to the
Internet using the Ethernet card and the ADSL modem / router, I tried
dialing up to an alternative ISP using my 56k modem. Dialled up and
authenitcated no problem - but still no Pipex email etc. Whereas if I
disable ADSL and dial up to an alternative ISP it works fine!

Which leads me to wonder: if a computer has more than one connection
to the Internet how does it work out which one to use?
--
King Queen - Remove .lartsspammers to reply. http://www.kingqueen.org.uk
"Advertising is the rattling of a stick in a swill bucket" George Orwell

King Queen <kq.lartsspammers@kingqueen.org.uk> writes:

Routeing tables. To do what you want you will have to set the default
route to go via the broadband connection and set a specific route to
the Pipex mail and web servers via the dial-up connection.

In general (for a host which is not running a routeing protocol like
RIP or BGP) the computer will examine any specific routes and use the
default route only if none of the other routes are appropriate. For
most host systems only a default route is defined because they only
have one connection.