laptop LAN and modem config

[Doofus <doofus@bulldoghome.com>]

I had a one-off need to configure the modem to dial a 56k ISP recently, 
but my permanently configured static ethernet and gateway addresses 
jiggered things up for me. I made it work simply by deleting the default 
route - it seems pppd will only set this there isn't already one there.

My question is, is there a more elegant or debian preferred method for 
dealing with this situation, which surely can't be so rare, and yet I've 
been unable to google anything about it?

Thanks. 
(accidentally sent to 'user' earlier)