Simultaneous Internet Connect

[Sparrowhawk]

No doubt this is one of the simplest-minded question you fine people have ever encountered, but is it possible to have a ISP connection done instantly when you start Safari or Mail? Windows allows this, but I've gotten the impression you have to open the dial-up first, then open whatever internet program you have, specifically Safari and Mail. Basically, the idea is cutting down on one step of the internet process. Thanks for reading.

[sgould]

If you have broadband you should connect as soon as you power up the computer.

If you are on dial-up. Go to System Prefs/Network/Internal modem. Choose the PPP tab. Then click "PPP Options" button and tick the box "Connect automatically when needed".

[fryke]

However: If you're on dial-up and pay per-minute or something, it's better to manually dial up, because there might be applications or utilities (or even Dashboard widgets?) open which want internet access from time to time. - Or are those not permitted to trigger PPP somehow? If somebody has experience with this (I haven't actively used dial-up automatically connecting for years, certainly never on OS X...), I'd appreciate a definite answer, since I still quite often have to install PPP-connected notebooks for friends, and they often ask for auto-connection and I always instruct them to simply use the menubar item, since that's veeeeeeeeeery quick and easy to use...