When there are a number of network devices in your system, such as wired and
wireless LAN network devices, in addition to the Dell TrueMobile 5100 Tri-band
GPRS PC Card, the Windows XP Operating System (and to a lesser extent the Windows
2000 Operating System) prioritizes the network devices based on the network
connection state and the connection bandwidth.
This means that if only one network device is connected to the network then
it will automatically be the primary network device. However If wired LAN, wireless
LAN and the Dell TrueMobile 5100 Tri-band GPRS PC Card are all connected to
networks then the wired LAN network device will be the primary network device,
followed by the wireless LAN network device, and then the Dell TrueMobile 5100
Tri-band GPRS PC Card.
The primary network device identifies the route (known as the default gateway)
for the data traffic that gets sent.
This can sometimes cause problems when trying to transfer data using a network
device other than the primary network device that is automatically selected
by the Operating System.
The most convenient way to handle this is to disable any network device that
is not required at any one time. This can be done either from the System Tray
network connection status icons or the connection icons in the Network Connections
view. Simply right click the selected network connection icon and then select
disable as needed. When you need to enable that same network device right click
the selected network connection icon and then select enable.
