Patent ID: 8537710

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a network device, one or more maximum size values for a wireless access network associated with the network device, wherein the one or more maximum size values are calculated to prevent fragmentation over the wireless access network; sending, by the network device and to a first computing device, an IP path maximum transfer unit (MTU) value that is based on the one or more maximum size values, wherein the sending is performed when an IP session is initiated by the first computing device or when powering up the network device, and wherein the IP path MTU value invokes the first computing device to initiate an IP path MTU discovery (PMTUD) message; receiving, by the network device and from the first computing device, the IP PMTUD message, wherein the IP PMTUD message instructs the network device to invoke an IP path MTU discovery procedure for a path between the first computing device and a second computing device, and wherein the IP PMTUD message further instructs the network device to report results of the IP path MTU discovery procedure to the first computing device; and forwarding, by the network device, the results of the IP path MTU discovery procedure to the first computing device.