Of course both can be used at the same time. However, normally one 
will be the default and will handle all the traffic. If one is 
disconnected, the other will take over.

There are reports that Windows 7 can "load balance" with two 
connections but I've not tried it since I'm running XP.

However, for XP (and possibly Win 7) to use both at the same time is 
another matter.  Special software and setups may be required to fully 
utilize them.  One of the provisos is that you have two ISP's or at 
least two primary TCPIP addresses from ISP's.  One piece of software 
is NAT32 (www.NAT32.com) run in the Host Transfer Mode.

I often will have a hardware connected network (Ethernet) and also 
WiFi while trouble shooting a problem even on my XP machine.

Not a normal use of Internet connections though.   The main reason 
both are there, I think, is that there are a lot of places that have 
Wired ethernet only (hotels still) and others have WiFi..  Wired is 
frequently faster so it can be used instead of WiFi and can be more secure.

Doug

At 3/7/2011 12:01 AM, you wrote:


>Date:    Fri, 4 Mar 2011 11:32:09 -0500
>From:    David Nager <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Dual Internet connections
>
>*
>*I have a new to me, HP Pavillion Desktop. It is a Quad Core with Win 7 Home
>64 bit.
>In addition to the ethernet connection it also has a Wifi internal card. I
>dont know why that would be on a desktop
>unles it can use both connections at the same time. Can it ?

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