modem connection

[Matthew Whiting]

Hi all,

Wondering what would be the recommended way of controlling a dial-up 
connection with Ubuntu or similar? My modem works nicely but only when I 
can connect :-) Under 'Network Settings' if I set the Modem Connection 
to activated and select 'Set modem as default route to internet' it 
dials up when I start up my machine. Thats cool providing I want to 
connect to the net straight off. If I deselect the default route option 
I have a hard job consistently controlling the connection by 
activating/deactivating the Modem Connection.

Would there be a better way to connect? I try using kppp but after 
clicking connect it doesn't really seem to do much. How could I better 
monitor what is actually going on behind the scenes?

Cheers
Matthew