Bundling of DSL resources in home environments

Abstract

Bundling the resources of different access links is a measure to improve throughput and resilience to network failure. This paper proposes a solution able to bundle the own DSL resources with available resources of neighbouring DSLs. The solution is based on links between the DSL routers (e.g. using Wi-Fi technology) which are used by the bundling algorithm to distribute data packets over the available DSLs. The proposed solution has been implemented in a testbed in order to investigate possible bundling gains under realistic conditions. This paper presents details about the solution itself as well as the implementation and the testbed. Intensive performance measurements based on a testbed are discussed. Results show that high bundling gains can be achieved. Results also show that the link between the DSL routers is the most critical part which needs to be configured and dimensioned with care.