[kalonji]

what i mean by this is, i have regular cablemodem access (which goes out randomly from time to time-bad cablemodem i think), and my nextdoor neighbor has a wireless setup which he allows me to use and doesn't mind (he gave me the pass).

is there any software that will allow you to do two things at once with two seperate internet connections?

[larkost]

MacOS X's networking stack can easily handle two (or more) simultaneous connections, but setting up link aggregation (what it sounds like you are looking for) is not trivial... and almost never beneficial over non P-t-P connections.

There have to be some sort of rule system in place for figuring out when packets go one direction, and when they go the other. If they all wind up in the same place (VPN connections for example), then this can be strait-forward, and most of the work happens in PPP.

But if you are just thinking that you will get more "speed" (at best an ill defined term), for web surfing then I would advise you to forget it as it is not worth the trouble of defining all the rules. More often than not you will simply break your network connections.

[sray]

I don't think you can use both connections simultaneously without purchasing additional software (sorry -- don't know what you would have to get). However, you can have the Mac automatically switch to the Airport connection if the cable modem goes out.

To do this, go to the Preferences -> Network pane and then "Show" drop down and select "Network Port configuration".

You will see Airport and Ethernet here. Simply drag the Built-in Ethernet to the top of the list and then drag the Airport to the second item in the list. This is called multihoming and allows Mac OS X to switch to Airport if the first preferred connection does not work.