Ozi Traveller <ozitraveller@???> wrote:

> There's certainly a pause when boot, if my modem hasn't quite connected.
>
> And if I start the modem first, so it's connected properly, then it just boots.

That could be something much more mundane.
If you have no internet connection, or worse, and IP address but no connectivity then DNS lookups can timeout. If you have no connection (ie no interface up and configured) at all then they will fail, but if you have a connection (any interface up and configured) then the DNS query will be made - but will timeout if there isn't connectivity to allow it to be answered.

It's a fairly common issue, across a lot of areas. I've seen it on boards (remember them ?), lists, forums along the line of "when I [telnet|ssh|something] to ${system} then it pauses for 30s before connecting". It's often because the host is trying to do a lookup on the IP address of the client, but it's neither failing nor succeeding.

The same can apply to other stuff - eg something trying to contact a server out on the internet.