How to set wlan0 as the default adaptor?

[stokes]

I'm a bit confused over my eth0 and wlan0 interfaces in my CentOS box.

I want to use wlan0 as the only network interface in the system. I've tried using the network-config scripts but the interface does not come up when the system boots.

I use this script to bring up wlan0, which seems to work:

iwconfig wlan0 essid cupotea
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
iwconfig wlan0 power off
iwconfig wlan0 nickname centos
iwconfig wlan0 channel 11
ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.10 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add default gw 192.168.0.1
ifconfig wlan0 up

The lights come on on the back of the card and I can connect on 192.168.0.10, BUT, when I pull out the ethernet cable on my wired interface, wlan0 dies as well. I've been googling this strange phenomenum for hours and can't seem to find an explanation. If anyone has any clues I would like to know?

[AlexK]

I don't know why it should do that, but did you bring down eth0 before pulling the cable? Also, if you don't want the wired card starting on boot, isn't it possible to change its START MODE to off?