Patent ID: 7499408

Claim:
A method for establishing a communications connection, comprising: providing a digital subscriber line access multiplexer having an integrated circuit chip, the integrated circuit chip operable to form a digital subscriber line connection with a communications device; consecutively transmitting a plurality of parameters by the digital subscriber line access multiplexer to the communications device, each parameter correlated with at least one connection setting and identifying a particular party as a manufacturer of the integrated circuit chip, wherein consecutively transmitting a plurality of parameters comprises consecutively transmitting a plurality of parameters using a corresponding plurality of C-MSGS 1 messages; establishing a plurality of digital subscriber line connections each having a one-to-one correspondence with one of the plurality of parameters, wherein each connection is established in response to transmitting the connection's corresponding parameter using the at least one connection setting correlated with the corresponding parameter; selecting one of the connections having a data transfer rate that is greater than a particular threshold; identifying the parameter that corresponds to the selected connection; and initiating, by the digital subscriber line access multiplexer, an establishment of the digital subscriber line connection with the communications device using the at least one connection setting correlated with the identified parameter.