Local fault tolerance for managing alternative networks for high quality of service communications

1. A method for managing alternative networks comprising:

providing a first data packet to a first interface, the first data packet being received from a computing device using a third interface, the first interface coupled to a first broadband connection received at a premises, the first broadband connection being coupled to a service outside the premises using a first data network, the third interface being coupled to the computing device at the premises;

receiving some of second data packets at the first interface from the service responsive to the first data packet, the second data packets including a first recipient address and primary data from the service;

forwarding the some of the second data packets to the computing device;

receiving third data packets at a second interface from the service responsive to the first data packet, the third data packets including a second recipient address and redundant data from the service, the redundant data being associated with the primary data, the second interface coupled to a second broadband connection received at the premises, the second broadband connection being coupled to the service outside the premises using a second data network and being different from the first broadband connection;

determining that one of the second data packets to be received at the first interface from the service responsive to the first data packet is not received and/or is corrupted;

recovering the one of the second data packets using the primary data and the redundant data; and

forwarding the recovered one of the second data packets to the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein an analog telephone is communicatively coupled to the computing device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending to the service a quality of service provided by the first data network,

wherein the service provides the third data packets responsive to the quality of service.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

determining the quality of service provided by the first data network, the determining including:

measuring at least one of a data rate and a number of lost packets over the first data network; and

comparing the measurements to at least one of a predetermined data rate and a predetermined number of lost packets.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a quality of service provided by the first data network; and

requesting the third data packets from the service using the determining.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining the quality of service provided by the first data network comprises:

measuring at least one of a data rate and a number of lost packets over the first data network; and

comparing the measurements to at least one of a predetermined data rate and predetermined number of lost packets.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the one of the second data packets is at least one of not received and is corrupted uses one or more of a parity bit, checksum, and an error-correcting code (ECC).

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ECC is at least one of a: repetition code, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), cryptographic hash function, forward error correction (FEC) code, and channel coding.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the ECC is at least one of a: convolutional code, block code, Reed-Solomon code, Hamming code, Hadamard code, Expander code, Golay code, and Reed-Muller code.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the one of the second data packets to be received at the first interface from the service is not received and/or is corrupted includes one or more of:

using a scorecard; and

detecting at least one of changes to jitter buffer size, packet latency above a predetermined threshold, and degradation in audio quality using a number of lost packets.

11. A method for managing alternative networks comprising:

providing a first data packet to a first interface, the first data packet being received from a computing device using a third interface, the first interface coupled to a first broadband connection received at a premises, the first broadband connection being coupled to a service outside the premises using a first data network, the third interface being coupled to the computing device at the premises;

receiving some of second data packets at the first interface from the service responsive to the first data packet, the second data packets including a first recipient address and primary data from the service;

forwarding the some of the second data packets to the computing device;

receiving third data packets at a second interface from the service responsive to the first data packet, the third data packets including a second recipient address and redundant data from the service, the redundant data being associated with the primary data, the second interface coupled to a second broadband connection received at the premises, the second broadband connection being coupled to the service outside the premises using a second data network and being different from the first broadband connection; and

forwarding the second data packets and the third data packets to the computing device, the computing device:

determining that one of the second data packets to be received at the first interface from the service responsive to the first data packet is not received and/or is corrupted; and

recovering the one of the second data packets using the primary data and the redundant data.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein an analog telephone is communicatively coupled to the computing device.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

sending to the service a quality of service provided by the first data network,

wherein the service provides the third data packets responsive to the quality of service.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

determining the quality of service provided by the first data network, the determining including:

measuring at least one of a data rate and a number of lost packets over the first data network; and

comparing the measurements to at least one of a predetermined data rate and a predetermined number of lost packets.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

determining a quality of service provided by the first data network; and

requesting the third data packets from the service using the determining.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the determining the quality of service provided by the first data network comprises:

measuring at least one of a data rate and a number of lost packets over the first data network; and

comparing the measurements to at least one of a predetermined data rate and a predetermined number of lost packets.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining the one of the second data packets is at least one of not received and is corrupted uses one or more of a parity bit, checksum, and an error-correcting code (ECC).

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the ECC is at least one of a: repetition code, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), cryptographic hash function, forward error correction (FEC) code, and channel coding.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the ECC is at least one of a: convolutional code, block code, Reed-Solomon code, Hamming code, Hadamard code, Expander code, Golay code, and Reed-Muller code.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining the one of the second data packets to be received at the first interface from the service is not received and/or is corrupted includes one or more of:

using a scorecard; and

detecting at least one of changes to jitter buffer size, packet latency above a predetermined threshold, and degradation in audio quality using a number of lost packets.

21. A system for managing alternative networks comprising:

a first interface coupled to a first broadband connection received at a premises, the first broadband connection being coupled to a service outside the premises using a first data network;

a second interface coupled to a second broadband connection received at the premises, the second broadband connection being coupled to the service outside the premises using a second data network and being different from the first broadband connection;

a third interface coupled to a computing device at the premises;

a processor coupled to the first, second, and third interfaces; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to perform a method comprising:

providing a first data packet to the first interface, the first data packet being received from the computing device;

receiving some of second data packets at the first interface from the service responsive to the first data packet, the second data packets including a first recipient address and primary data from the service;

forwarding the some of the second data packets to the computing device;

receiving third data packets at the second interface from the service responsive to the first data packet, the third data packets including a second recipient address and redundant data from the service, the redundant data being associated with the primary data;

determining that one of the second data packets to be received at the first interface from the service responsive to the first data packet is not received and/or is corrupted;

recovering the one of the second data packets using the primary data and the redundant data; and

forwarding the recovered one of the second data packets to the computing device.

22. The system of claim 21 , further comprising:

an analog telephone communicatively coupled to the computing device, the computing device being integrated with the system.

23. The system of claim 21 , wherein the method further comprises:

sending to the service a quality of service provided by the first data network,

wherein the service provides the third data packets responsive to the quality of service.

24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining the quality of service provided by the first data network, the determining including:

measuring at least one of a data rate and a number of lost packets over the first data network; and

comparing the measurements to at least one of a predetermined data rate and a predetermined number of lost packets.

25. The system of claim 21 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining a quality of service provided by the first data network; and

requesting the third data packets from the service using the determining.

26. The system of claim 25 , wherein the determining the quality of service provided by the first data network comprises:

measuring at least one of a data rate and a number of lost packets over the first data network; and

comparing the measurements to at least one of a predetermined data rate and a predetermined number of lost packets.

27. The system of claim 21 , wherein the determining the one of the second data packets is at least one of not received and is corrupted uses one or more of a parity bit, checksum, and an error-correcting code (ECC).

28. The system of claim 27 , wherein the ECC is at least one of a: repetition code, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), cryptographic hash function, forward error correction (FEC) code, and channel coding.

29. The system of claim 27 , wherein the ECC is at least one of a: convolutional code, block code, Reed-Solomon code, Hamming code, Hadamard code, Expander code, Golay code, and Reed-Muller code.

30. The system of claim 21 , wherein the determining the one of the second data packets to be received at the first interface from the service is not received and/or is corrupted includes one or more of:

using a scorecard; and

detecting at least one of changes to jitter buffer size, packet latency above a predetermined threshold, and degradation in audio quality using a number of lost packets.

31. A system for managing alternative networks comprising:

a first interface coupled to a first broadband connection received at a premises, the first broadband connection being coupled to a service outside the premises using a first data network;

a second interface coupled to a second broadband connection received at the premises, the second broadband connection being coupled to the service outside the premises using a second data network and being different from the first broadband connection;

a third interface coupled to a computing device at the premises;

a processor coupled to the first, second, and third interfaces; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to perform a method comprising:

providing a first data packet to the first interface, the first data packet being received from the computing device;

receiving some of second data packets at the first interface from the service responsive to the first data packet, the second data packets including a first recipient address and primary data from the service;

forwarding the some of the second data packets to the computing device;

receiving third data packets at the second interface from the service responsive to the first data packet, the third data packets including a second recipient address and redundant data from the service, the redundant data being associated with the primary data; and

forwarding the second data packets and the third data packets to the computing device, the computing device:

determining that one of the second data packets to be received at the first interface from the service responsive to the first data packet is not received and/or is corrupted; and

recovering the one of the second data packets using the primary data and the redundant data.

32. The system of claim 31 , further comprising:

an analog telephone communicatively coupled to the computing device, the computing device being integrated with the system.

33. The system of claim 31 , wherein the method further comprises:

sending to the service a quality of service provided by the first data network,

wherein the service provides the third data packets responsive to the quality of service.

34. The system of claim 33 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining the quality of service provided by the first data network, the determining including:

measuring at least one of a data rate and a number of lost packets over the first data network; and

comparing the measurements to at least one of a predetermined data rate and a predetermined number of lost packets.

35. The system of claim 31 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining a quality of service provided by the first data network; and

requesting the third data packets from the service using the determining.

36. The system of claim 35 , wherein the determining the quality of service provided by the first data network comprises:

measuring at least one of a data rate and a number of lost packets over the first data network; and

comparing the measurements to at least one of a predetermined data rate and a predetermined number of lost packets.

37. The system of claim 31 , wherein the determining the one of the second data packets is at least one of not received and is corrupted uses one or more of a parity bit, checksum, and an error-correcting code (ECC).

38. The system of claim 37 , wherein the ECC is at least one of a: repetition code, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), cryptographic hash function, forward error correction (FEC) code, and channel coding.

39. The system of claim 37 , wherein the ECC is at least one of a: convolutional code, block code, Reed-Solomon code, Hamming code, Hadamard code, Expander code, Golay code, and Reed-Muller code.

40. The system of claim 31 , wherein the determining the one of the second data packets to be received at the first interface from the service is not received and/or is corrupted includes one or more of:

using a scorecard; and

detecting at least one of changes to jitter buffer size, packet latency above a predetermined threshold, and degradation in audio quality using a number of lost packets.