Patent ID: 7864670

Claim:
A method of communicating between first and second devices connected by a network media cable, wherein the network media cable comprises a set of network media wires, the method comprising: attempting, by a network interface device, to communicate between the first and second network devices over a current subset of the network media wires of the network media cable; responsive to determining that the attempted communication failed; selecting, by the network interface device, a subsequent subset of network media wires of the network media cable, wherein the network media wires within said subsequent subset and said current subset differ in at least one element; and using, by the network interface device, at least the selected subsequent subset of network media wires as the media over which subsequent network data is transmitted between the first and second devices; and responsive to determining that the attempted communication succeeded, using, by the network interface device, at least the current subset of network media wires as the media over which subsequent network data is transmitted between the first and second devices.