Patent ID: 6912199

Claim:
A method of setting a sending transmit rate for transmitting an outgoing data frame from a network node along a network which includes telephone wiring as a network medium, the method comprising: receiving incoming frames from other nodes; extracting, from each of at least some of the incoming frames, both a source node address corresponding to a source node of an incoming frame, and a desirable transmission rate for transmitting data between the network node and the source node; storing, in a storage device at the network node, a look-up table with multiple entries, each of the entries including a node address and a corresponding desirable transmission rate extracted from each of the at least some of the incoming frames; and determining the sending transmit rate for an outgoing frame sent to a destination node having an outgoing frame destination address, the determining the sending transmit rate for the outgoing frame including: comparing the outgoing frame destination address to node addresses stored in the storage device to determine whether a corresponding entry exists in the storage device which corresponds to the outgoing frame destination node; if the corresponding entry exists, setting the sending transmit rate equal to the corresponding desirable transmission rate of the entry, wherein the network node includes a network medium interface device which includes at least two Physical Layer Devices (PHYs), the PHYs having different operating characteristics; and controlling selection of an active PHY from among the PHYs based on capabilities of the outgoing frame destination node to which the frame is to be transmitted.