Patent ID: 8463920

Claim:
A system for sharing bandwidth among a plurality of internet service providers (ISPs) coupled to a backbone network, the system comprising: a broadband customer access network for coupling a plurality of end-users to the backbone network, wherein each end-user is associated with a particular one of the plurality of ISPs; a first router coupled to the customer access network and in communication with the backbone network for source-routing data packets output by at least one end-user to the ISP associated with the at least one end-user, wherein the first router is configured to: receive a reference to the ISP from the at least one end-user via a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) configuration parameter; and determine the ISP associated with the at least one end-user from the reference to the ISP received from the end-user via the DOCSIS configuration parameter; and a second router coupled to the backbone network and at least one of the plurality of ISPs for receiving the data packets source-routed by the first router and passing the data packets to the ISP associated with the at least one end user.