Can't use broadband after using modem

[chrissansom]

My G4/466 is connected to a cable modem via Ethernet, through a simple Ethernet hub. Normally there's no problem at all with this.

However, occasionally I have to access a particular host by dialling up. I've set up a Location for this, and I can switch locations from the Apple menu and connect - no problem.

The trouble comes when I want to switch back to my normal broadband location: I disconnect, go back to the Apple menu and change the location back... and lose all connection. I've tried everything I can think of in the Network prefs, but that tells me everything is normal. I've tried renewing my DHCP lease - no good. Even logging out and back in again doesn't fix it. The only thing that does is restarting the Mac, which is a serious pain.

Is there something obvious I'm missing? Is this, perhaps, a known issue for which there's a workaround?

 

[chrissansom]

I also posted this to the macosxhints.com forum (which looks identical to this one!) and got the following very helpful reply:

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I don't have a workaround, but you don't need to change locations to do this. In the network port configuration pane of the network preferences, just move the Dial-Up modem entry to the top of the list. When you then dial-in, that will be come the active network connection. Hanging up should restore ethernet to active.

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However, that's fine if there's only one such account you have to dial into - as is the case for me at the moment. But supposing there's more than one, does that mean you have to change all the modem settings every time? Surely there must be a better way...