An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory including instructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: provide first data representing an estimate of a communications link based on a signal received over said communications link from a transmitter; determine an estimated achievable data rate over said communications link for each of a plurality of link configurations which have respective combinations of modulation scheme and pilot symbol pattern which correspond to one or more transmitter link configurations, the estimated achievable data rate for a particular link configuration being determined based on the first data, and the modulation scheme and the pilot pattern of the particular reference link configuration, and wherein each of the transmitter link configurations has a respective advertised data rate; and select a transmitter link configuration by: filtering the transmitter link configurations to exclude those having an advertised data rate greater than the estimated achievable data rate for the corresponding link configuration; and selecting one of the remaining link configurations. a processor; and a memory including instructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: provide first data representing an estimate of a communications link based on a signal received over said communications link from a transmitter; determine an estimated achievable data rate over said communications link for each of a plurality of link configurations which have respective combinations of modulation scheme and pilot symbol pattern which correspond to one or more transmitter link configurations, the estimated achievable data rate for a particular link configuration being determined based on the first data, and the modulation scheme and the pilot pattern of the particular reference link configuration, and wherein each of the transmitter link configurations has a respective advertised data rate; and select a transmitter link configuration by: filtering the transmitter link configurations to exclude those having an advertised data rate greater than the estimated achievable data rate for the corresponding link configuration; and selecting one of the remaining link configurations. provide first data representing an estimate of a communications link based on a signal received over said communications link from a transmitter; determine an estimated achievable data rate over said communications link for each of a plurality of link configurations which have respective combinations of modulation scheme and pilot symbol pattern which correspond to one or more transmitter link configurations, the estimated achievable data rate for a particular link configuration being determined based on the first data, and the modulation scheme and the pilot pattern of the particular reference link configuration, and wherein each of the transmitter link configurations has a respective advertised data rate; and select a transmitter link configuration by: filtering the transmitter link configurations to exclude those having an advertised data rate greater than the estimated achievable data rate for the corresponding link configuration; and selecting one of the remaining link configurations. filtering the transmitter link configurations to exclude those having an advertised data rate greater than the estimated achievable data rate for the corresponding link configuration; and selecting one of the remaining link configurations. <EOS>