MULTI-PATH TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL CONNECTIONS

Systems, methods, and nodes that implement multipath TCP (MPTCP) in a communication system establish first and second data link layer connections to a remote node, notify a transport layer of the establishment of the first and second data link layer connections, and establish first and second transport layer connections with the remote node over the first and second data link layer connections. A packet received at the data link layer for transmission to the remote node is inspected to determine if MPTCP is enabled for the packet, and, in response to determining that MPTCP is enabled for the packet, the packet is assigned to one of the first data link layer connection and the second data link layer connection based on an affinity between an MPTCP sub-flow associated with the packet and the one of the first data link layer connection and the second data link layer connection.