How do you know which one is it gonna choose when you're connected with both wired and wireless? Is there some type of "test" it does to take the better connection? Or does it like pick randomly? Alternate?
If you are using the same ISP to connect to the Ethernet and WiFi then you should choose one of them only. Ethernet would be my first choice if the Router is nearby and the computer is not connected by a very long wired cable.
My Computer
At a glance
Windows 7 Pro with SP1 32bit2 gigs of RAMIntel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Built
OS
Windows 7 Pro with SP1 32bit
Motherboard
Intel D845GVS1 X86-based PC
Memory
2 gigs of RAM
Graphics Card(s)
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
Sound Card
Realtek AC'97 Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung SyncMaster 931BF Black 19" LCD Monitor
Screen Resolution
1280X960
Hard Drives
1. SAMSUNG SP0822N ATA Device ~ 80 GigaBytes
2. Seagate FreeAgent Go USB Device ~ 500 GigaBytes
How do you know which one is it gonna choose when you're connected with both wired and wireless? Is there some type of "test" it does to take the better connection? Or does it like pick randomly? Alternate?
Well, we know the machine knows the maximum speeds of each of the connected networks, but I know it doesn't always pick the one with the highest rated speed. So I think there's some 'smarts' behind it, and recall reading about it before, but can't remember what all it is able to look at.
I know I've seen preference to a lower speed network, with quite a bit of other traffic on it, even while it had access to a higher speed network with absolutely no current traffic. Then after a little while it decides to use the higher speed network.
Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections
I'm pretty sure the order here defines the order used (as that's how Macs do it), but I could be wrong.
My Computer
At a glance
Windows 8 Pro (32-bit)1.83GHz Intel Core Duo2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) (upgrade)ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Apple 17" iMac MA199LL (Early 2006)
OS
Windows 8 Pro (32-bit)
CPU
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
Memory
2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) (upgrade)
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory
Monitor(s) Displays
17-inch TFT active-matrix LCD, millions of colors
Screen Resolution
1440 x 900
Hard Drives
Hitachi 320GB HDT721032SLA360 7200RPM SATA II (upgrade)
Generally it chooses the fastest adaptor but that's not always the case as sibbil mentioned.
If you find that it is using a slower adaptor when a faster one is available then under TCP/IP settings for each adaptor there's a checkbox called Automatic Metric the lower number is the preferred network adaptor if not set to auto (I think, might be the higher number) and there is also a metric setting for the Default Gateways if you have more than one Gateway including Gateway's on different adaptors.
To check which adaptor is being used open Task Manager and check the Network tab.
I played with the metric settings for another thread and I'm pretty sure this is correct. I don't know if it alternates or pick randomly when set to auto.
If you want to set up manually which adapter will be used, look at metric field: TCP/IP settings > Advanced. Less metric is higher priority. Or you can also use route command line utility for setting up which network interfaces (connections) will be used for different destinations (ip ranges).
