Patent ID: 8228795

Claim:
A method for wired communication, the method comprising: performing by one or more circuits in a multi-rate PHY device: extending a first range of said multi-rate PHY device operating according to a PHY protocol, to a second range higher than said first range, wherein said extending comprises enabling direct wired connections between said multi-rate PHY device and a PHY peer, said extending being achieved by: reducing a communication rate of said multi-rate PHY device from a higher communication rate to a lower communication rate; and applying during communications at said lower communication rate, at least some of dedicated signal processing operations supported by said multi-rate PHY device for use to achieve said first range during communications at said higher communication rate; wherein said direct wired connections include a plurality of twisted-pair wires, and wherein said lower communication rate is aggregated by an even distribution over each twisted-pair wire of said plurality of twisted-pair wires if said multi-rate PHY device is configured for said even distribution, and wherein said lower communication rate is aggregated by an uneven distribution over each twisted-pair wire of said plurality of twisted-pair wires if said multi-rate PHY device is configured for said uneven distribution.