Patent ID: 8824502

Claim:
A network interface module comprising: a physical layer module configured to receive a first signal from a medium access controller, transmit the first signal, via one of a plurality of wires of a cable, to a network device at a first data rate while conforming to Ethernet baseband characteristics for the first data rate, and determine a characteristic of the cable; a cable measurement module configured to measure characteristics of the cable including the characteristic of the cable determined by the physical layer module, wherein the measured characteristics of the cable comprise a length of the cable, a signal quality level of a second signal received via the cable, and a measurement of an eye opening of the second signal received via the cable; and a data rate module configured to select a second data rate based on the measured characteristics of the cable, wherein the second data rate is slower than the first data rate, and wherein the physical layer module is configured to transmit a third signal, via the one of the plurality of wires of the cable, to the network device at the second data rate while conforming to the Ethernet baseband characteristics for the first data rate.