Patent ID: 7793352

Claim:
A method for sharing network access capacities between a master Internet service provider, comprising at least one point of presence, and a client Internet service provider, said method comprising the steps of: upon reception of an access request, including at least a subscriber identifier, an Internet service provider identifier and a password, at said at least one point of presence: determining, according to said Internet service provider identifier, if said access request comes from a subscriber of said master Internet service provider or from a subscriber of said client Internet service provider, said access request being rejected otherwise; if said access request comes from a subscriber of said master Internet service provider, determining, using said subscriber identifier and said password, if said subscriber is authorized to establish a connection; and, if said subscriber is authorized, establishing a connection, else, rejecting said access request; else, if said access request comes from a subscriber of said client Internet service provider, determining if a new connection may be established for a subscriber of said client Internet service provider; and, if a new connection may be established, sending an authorization request, comprising at least said subscriber identifier and said password, to said client Internet service provider, else, rejecting said access request; upon reception of an authorization acknowledgment, comprising said subscriber identifier, from said client Internet service provider: if said subscriber is authorized, establishing a connection, and sharing network access capacity across the established connection between the master Internet service provider and the client Internet service provider else, rejecting said access request; and replacing said subscriber identifier and said password by a virtual subscriber identifier and a virtual password, associated to said Internet service provider identifier, when said access request comes from a subscriber of said client Internet service provider, before determining if a new connection may be established for a subscriber of said client Internet service provider.