Patent ID: 7620154

Claim:
A controller comprising: an input to receive data regarding a first attenuation signal and to receive data regarding a second attenuation signal, wherein the first attenuation signal is generated in response to a communication signal sent by a remote terminal transceiver to customer premises equipment, wherein the customer premises equipment generates the first attenuation signal and the first attenuation signal is a downstream signal, and wherein the remote terminal transceiver generates the second attenuation signal and the second attenuation signal is an upstream signal; and a processor to determine an equivalent working length of a digital subscriber line circuit based on the first attenuation signal and based on the second attenuation signal, wherein the processor averages a first attenuation value determined from the first attenuation signal and a second attenuation value determined from the second attenuation signal to determine a combined attenuation value and wherein the processor determines the equivalent working length based on the combined attenuation value.