Patent ID: 8730940

Claim:
An access connection for connecting a user access point to an Ethernet network, the access connection comprising: one or more passive couplers, each passive coupler being connected to the user access point and one or more access nodes of the Ethernet network so as to provide a plurality of access connection paths between the user access point and the Ethernet network such that data can be exchanged, over each access connection path, between the user access point and the one or more access nodes, and a controller configured to control the one or more access nodes such that only one of the access connection paths transmits the data received from the network to the user access point, wherein the one or more access nodes comprises a detector configured to detect traffic received from the user access point over the access connection and, in the absence of such traffic being detected by one of the access nodes, to cause a different access connection to be selected for data transmission to the access point.