Set default internet connection to use 3G vs built-in wireless

Question

Windows 7 laptop with a built-in wireless NIC and USB 3G device. If the wireless network connection fails I want to automatically kick over to the 3G connection.

I can have both running at the same time no problems, but whenever they are the internet connection always goes out through the 3G connection rather than the wireless.

I have tried "internet options" setting, or prioritising the connections through the network and sharing center, all with no luck. I think this can possibly be achieved through the command prompt and the "route" command but I can't figure out how to do it.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

Very interesting question so I googled around. This may not help but found this answer, quoting it:

You can try this, although I can't promise it will work every time.

1. Open Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections
2. Right click on your 3G adapter and select properties
3. Highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 and click the properties button
4. Click the advanced button.
5. Un-check the "Automatic Metric" check box
6. Enter a value of 10 in the "Interface Metric" box.
7. Click OK all the way out.

Now repeat the same process with the WiFi adapter, but give it a metric of 1.

What your telling Windows 7 is that given two active connections to the internet, use the one with the lower metric...in this case WiFi. This only impacts situations where both connections are active. When only one is active, it "should" use that one, regardless of the metric. I say "should", 'cause you know how it goes with windows.