Routing Multiple Internet Connections?

[Graeme]

I have two sources of internet at the moment. A LAN cable and a wireless modem.
Unfortunately, the LAN has certain restrictions on it that will not allow mail or iMessage work on my Mac.
Is it possible for me to route the wireless modem's internet to those programs and just use the LAN for everything else?
(basically, is it possible to route multiple internet connections between multiple tasks/programs?)

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

There isn't any way to route specific apps and network traffic to different connection services/ports. Mac OS X accesses the network services in the order they are set in the Network preference pane. The best way to set the order is as follows:

Ethernet
Wi-Fi
Any other service of your choice.

The reasoning for that order is because Ethernet is the fastest and if there isn't an Ethernet cable connected, OS X automatically skips it and goes on to the next. If Wi-Fi is first in the list and it can't get a connection, it will skip to the next service, but will continue to try connecting to Wi-Fi and possibly cause some delays.

My guess is that your Ethernet connection is supplied by a school or business, and they have some services blocked for security and/or network speed reasons, correct? Strange that email is blocked however, as it runs on a "standard" port as do web browsers.

You may have to unplug the Ethernet cable and just use the Wi-Fi so you can access everything, even though it is probably a slower connection.

C