Methods, apparatus and data structures for imposing a policy or policies on the selection of a line by a number of terminals in a network

Abstract

Enforcing user defined and/or configurable policies to select which (e.g., DSL) line a (e.g., PPPoE) session would use when there are multiple lines present. This avoids the adverse network conditions that exist if the multiple DSL lines are directly connected to the premises local area network (or 'LAN'). Once a line is selected, the session may be supported, in its entirety, over that selected line. A device may include embedded (e.g., DSL) modems so external ATU-Rs would not be required. Furthermore, the complexity of the modem functionality would be reduced since the embedded modem would not require the learning bridge logic, which is currently implemented in external PPPoE capable modems. No changes to premises networking equipment (hubs, bridges, PCs) would be required.