Bonded DSL - FAQs

Q - How does the Eclipse solution differ from other suppliers solutions?

A - Aggregated connection – The Eclipse way

The Eclipse Bonded DSL solution uses an aggregated connection for all IP traffic.

• The required hardware is provided for each line.  This adds resilience to the Bonded DSL solution.
• The estimated combined speed of the Bonded DSL solution will determine the hardware you need. Some solutions may need additional hardware to ensure maximum throughput is achieved - if required, no additional costs will be applied for this hardware.
• Traffic is routed to take advantage of the full speed of each individual line.
• Traffic is combined through our aggregator; this allows connection to continue even if one router fails.

Multi-Link Point to Point Protocol – Alternative providers

Other bonded DSL solutions use multi-link point to point protocol (MLPPP), creating a single PPP from multiple links.

• One specialist router is used, meaning single point of failure within the solution.
• Traffic is capped to the lowest performing line so if it is a 2 line solution, the combined speed will be 2 x that of the lowest performing as each line is equally weighted.
• If a single link within the solution fails, connection has to be re-established to reinstate the failed line.

Other alternatives

Load Balancing – this way of delivering Bonded DSL means multiple IPs, no overall speed gain and less resilience.

Physically Bonding Lines – this way of delivering Bonded DSL sees bonding happening at a low level, two lines sync as one to give twice the speed. However, if one line drops, the connection may be lost and the solution may need to be reconfigured.

Q - What are the differences between an aggregated connection and other alternatives?

A -

Q - What hardware is provided with the Eclipse Bonded DSL solution?

A - Bonded DSL solutions from Eclipse are provided with the required hardware based on the estimated total speed of your solution.
Hardware is provided to enable both the bonding of multiple ADSL lines and the connection of these to the internet.

Q - With multiple routers how does it all work?

A - Computers on a network use a ‘default gateway’ address to route traffic to the internet. The default gateway is the LAN address of your router and is normally 192.168.0.1 (or similar).

With Bonded DSL each router will have its own LAN address. In order for your LAN devices to route traffic properly, the group of routers become one ‘Virtual Router’. The default gateway then becomes the LAN address of the Virtual Router, normally 192.168.0.250 (or similar).

If LAN devices are configured for DHCP (automatic IP setup), they will automatically pick up and apply these settings. However, if devices have to be configured manually, you will need to make sure they are using the Virtual Router as the default gateway and not an individual router in the group.

Your external internet IP is set and managed by the aggregation server.

Q - How are the routers linked together?

A - The recommended configuration for routers is using a switch. Each router should be connected to the Ethernet switch. All other devices on your LAN should also be connected to this switch.

This configuration means that the 4 multiple routers can communicate with each other via the switch, allowing the Bonded DSL software to make use of all routers and route traffic, according to individual line performance.