Patent ID: 8572283

Claim:
A method of selectively applying Network Address Port Translation (NAPT) to data traffic in a communications network, comprising: receiving the data traffic at a primary gateway, wherein the primary gateway comprises a first WAN port configured to support NAPT, and a second WAN port configured to not support the NAPT; analyzing the received data traffic to determine a network path; determining whether to apply the NAPT to the received data traffic at the primary gateway based on whether the network path terminates at a first service provider network; determining, at the primary gateway, whether to bridge the received data traffic to a secondary gateway based on whether the network path terminates at a second service provider network, wherein bridging comprises sending the data traffic to the second WAN port of the primary gateway; and applying the NAPT at the primary gateway upon determining that the network path for the received data traffic terminates at the first service provider network, wherein applying NAPT comprises sending the data traffic to the first WAN port.