Can MPTCP Proxy Practically Improve Cellular Communication?

Emerging networks, such as 5G, can indeed deliver higher capabilities compared to previous generations. Yet, there is still a need for more capacity to meet the growing demand for higher bandwidth. Meanwhile, MPTCP has emerged as a protocol that combines existing networks to increase available bandwidth through the simultaneous use of multiple connections. However, most public servers do not currently support this protocol, forcing MPTCP connections to fall back to conventional single-path TCP. As a solution, we propose deploying a MPTCP proxy server as an enabler to provide multipathing on the client side. Using this approach, we combine the bandwidth available for 5G and LTE networks to determine the protocol’s ability to improve mobile communications. In addition, we have analyzed different congestion control and scheduling mechanisms for MPTCP to find out which are suitable for various situations and may yield significant beneficial results.