Patent ID: 8018923

Claim:
A physical layer device of a network device, the physical layer device comprising: a first transceiver connected to a first media of a first type; a second transceiver connected to a second media of a second type, the second type being different from the first type; a preferred media selector configured to receive user input selecting the first media as being preferred over the second media; a first autonegotiation circuit configured to use the first transceiver to attempt to establish a link over the first media; a second autonegotiation circuit configured to use the second transceiver to simultaneously attempt to establish a link over the second media; and a media selector circuit in communication with each of the first autonegotiation circuit and the second autonegotiation circuit, wherein in response to the second autonegotiation circuit establishing the link over the second media prior to the first autonegotiation circuit establishing the link over the first media, the media selector circuit is configured to break the link over the second media in response to the first autonegotiation circuit establishing the link over the first media within a predetermined amount of time of the second autonegotiation circuit establishing the link over the second media, wherein during the predetermined amount of time the media selector circuit attempts to detect whether the link over the first media is established.