Despite the ever increasing bandwidth of DSL connections, these remain the communications bottle-neck. In some cases it can be advisable to combine multiple DSL connections. There are a number of possibilities to realize this, some of which need active support from the Internet provider:
- DSL channel bundling (Multilink-PPPoE
– MLPPPoE)
The availability of direct bundling depends on the Internet provider's
product range. If available, the user has access to the sum of the bandwidths
of all of the bundled channels. Multilink-PPPoE can also be used for
bundling PPP connections.
Note: This version of channel bundling provides bandwidths that are a multiple of the smallest bundled channel. This means that it is especially efficient when channels are all of the same bandwidth. The direct bundling of different bandwidths means that the channels with the higher data rates suffer from a loss in effective bandwidth.
When bundling MLPPPoE for DSL channels behaves in the same way as the well known MLPPP for ISDN channel bundling.
- Load balancing
Load balancing involves the dynamic division of TCP connections between independent DSL connections. The user has access to the sum of the bandwidths of the bundled channels, but the individual TCP connections are limited to the bandwidth offered by the DSL connection allocated to it.
Note: Unlike direct channel bundling,
load balancing offers the true sum of all bundled bandwidths. This version
is thus highly effective for combining different bandwidths.