Tunnelling the Internet

Despite a considerable increase in Internet capacity, regional congestion is still an issue at certain times of day. We therefore investigate a scheme that allows end-users to selectively exploit a sequence of mini-tunnels along a path from their origin to a chosen destination. Such tunnels can be advertised centrally through a broker, with the cooperation of the Autonomous System (AS) domain operators, similar to a driver choosing to use a toll road to avoid potential congestion.