[arch-general] dual ISP: 1)cable broadband (DHCP) 2){shudder} dial-up (ppp?) Please help!

[Joe(theWordy)Philbrook]

Hi. It's been so long since I've bothered with dial-up that I'm not sure
where to begin. But so that I can bring my laptop with me to check my mail
etc... when I'm visiting my sister I need to get it working. Without
messing up my 'working' broadband set-up. 

It looks like my best bet is to use wvdial. I'm hoping that the actual use
will be as simple as unplugging the Ethernet cable from my laptop & plugging a
'live' modular phone cord into the laptops built in modem and following the
instructions for using wvdial...

My biggest concern is that everything I've found so far for getting Arch (or
other Linux) to connect via dialup all appear to assume that there isn't an
available broadband connection. (why else would I bother with dial-up
after all...) But I want to confirm that setting up wvdial to use a
dial-up ISP won't mess with reestablishing a broadband connection by
simply reconnecting the 'live' Ethernet cable... Preferably without
having to reboot. (Though I shudder to think what would happen if I
goofed and plugged in the broadband during an active dial-up session, or
initiated a dialup session without disconnecting the broadband.)

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide_Appendix
says: "There are quite a few dialup related documents in the Arch Linux Wiki"

But when I search the wiki for "dialup" it mostly lists in various languages,
references to the install guide or the document "Dialup without a dialer HOWTO"
But I like the idea that wvdialconf is supposed to automatically detect and
configure for most modems. And I like that wvdial is supposed to be able to
automatically detect pap vs chap etc and generally establish ppp with less
requirement for me to micromanage the process...

I searched the wiki for wvdial and all I got was instruction for
configuring non-root access (which is the last thing I want. When/if
connected via dialup, I'll be paying by the connected hour, so I don't want
anyone I don't trust with the root password to be able to use it...

I'm hoping that All I'll need to do is open a terminal window, su to a root
shell, type wvdial Then open a browser or email client in another window.
And to be able to quickly pull the plug on the connection (stopping the
ISP's connect time clock) by switching back to the root shell that started
wvdial and hitting ^C...  (that is of course after a root shell runs
wvdialconf and then edits the wvdial.conf to include the appropriate DNS
server, user and password data etc...)

Do I need to worry about wvdial and/or other dial-up ppp connection messing
with the broadband Ethernet setup?

Could someone point me at the URLs of the other 'dialup' related documents
that are supposed to be in the Arch Linux Wiki (since searching for 'dialup' 
didn't help me)?

Thanks!

-- 
|    ~-~   ~-~       Guess I just don't know.
|    <?>   <?>     Joseph (the Wordy) Philbrook
|        ^                  J(tWdy)P
|       ___             <jtwdyp at ttlc.net>

       <sigh>