Patent ID: 8345694

Claim:
A method comprising: establishing a first network tunnel between an access gateway and a first access router that provides a first access point for access terminals, the access gateway providing a first subnet of addresses to the first access router that the first access router can use to assign local addresses to the access terminals; establishing a second network tunnel between the access gateway and a second access router that provides a second access point for access terminals; assigning, by the access gateway, a public address to the access terminal having a local address assigned by the first or second access router, the access gateway assigning different public addresses to different access terminals connected to the access gateway through corresponding access router or routers; at the access gateway, translating source addresses of packets sent from an access terminal to a remote correspondent node by replacing the local address of the access terminal with the public address of the access terminal, to enable the access terminal to continuously maintain a communication session with the correspondent node as the access terminal moves from a first location to a second location and switches from accessing the first access router to accessing the second access router; and updating a mapping between the local address and the public address as the access terminal switches from the first access router to the second access router.