Patent ID: 8837531

Claim:
A method for transmitting data over at least a first, a second, and a third bonded communication channels each including a respective transmitter and a receiver, said method comprising: synchronizing a timing of physical layer signals to an external clock input at the transmitter; recovering an external clock signal from the timing of a plurality of received physical layer signals at the receiver of the first communication channel, wherein at any given moment, said first communication channel is designated as a primary channel for clock recovery, and said second communication channel is designated as a secondary channel for clock recovery; if the external clock signal provided by the primary channel is impaired, recovering the external clock signal from the receiver of the secondary channel, and designating the secondary channel as a new primary channel; if (a) the external clock signal provided by the secondary channel is impaired, or (b) the secondary channel becomes the primary channel, then designating the third communication channel as the secondary channel; using the recovered external clock signal for local re-timing of pseudowire frames at the receiver, where said local re-timing involves storing the received pseudowire frames in a buffer and re-transmitting them at time intervals dictated by the recovered external clock signal; selecting the primary and secondary channels from a plurality of communication channels as channels having a highest and second-highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) margin or with a lowest and second-lowest bit error ratio (BER), respectively; and selecting the primary and secondary channels from a plurality of communication channels as the channels with a best and second-best combination of high SNR margin and low BER, wherein the bonded communication channels are metallic pairs and a physical layer technology used to transmit data over the metallic pairs is G.shdsl as defined by the ITU-T G.991.2 standard and its amendments.