As end-user devices often have multiple access networks available, choosing the most suitable network can help to improve application performance and user experience. However, selecting the best access network for HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) is non-trivial, e.g., due to complex interactions between network conditions and the Adaptive Bit-Rate algorithm (ABR), which adapts to network conditions by selecting which video representation to load. In this paper, we propose to use an application-informed approach, Informed Access Network Selection (IANS), to select the most suitable access network for each video segment. We evaluate the impact of IANS on HAS performance in a testbed under a variety of network conditions and using different workloads. We find that IANS improves HAS performance substantially, in particular in cases where the available downstream capacity is low. In the Capacity Decrease scenario, where capacity decreases drastically during the video load, IANS can improve the estimated Mean Opinion Score (MOS) compared to using a single network from 2.1 to 2.8. We compare IANS to MPTCP using the Lowest-RTT-first scheduler, which continues to use a low downstream capacity network, resulting in lower performance. This confirms that IANS can improve video streaming performance.

Today's end-user devices have multiple access networks available and can achieve better application performance by distributing traffic across access networks. However, matching application traffic to the most suitable access network or bundling them is non-trivial, given varying application needs and network performance characteristics. Therefore, we propose an application-informed approach for access network selection (IANS). Based on the size of a Web resource, we select the better access network in terms of latency and available downstream capacity. We implement IANS within our Socket Intents prototype and evaluate its benefits for Web page loads under a variety of network conditions and for various Web pages. IANS provides the highest speedups for scenarios with asymmetric network conditions and for scenarios with low downstream capacity. Here, IANS improves relevant Web metrics by between 500 and 1000 ms in the median, compared to using the better of the two access networks, and may also outperform MPTCP. This confirms that IANS improves application performance over using a single network and, in several scenarios, even using MPTCP.

In today's Internet, almost all end devices have multiple interfaces built in. This enables users to seamlessly switch between different access networks or even use them simultaneously; to better use the resources available to them and to better satisfy their needs. This is referred to as mobile data offloading and has received lots of attention recently in both the research community and in the industry. However, all the proposed data solutions either rely on static configuration policies or are reactive rather than proactive with regards to the application needs.