Patent ID: 8432942

Claim:
A method for use in a communications network having a timing source, a circuit-switched link, a first node, and a source node, the method comprising: during a setup phase: receiving, at the first node, a first message from the source node over the circuit-switched link; reflecting the first message back to the source node over the circuit-switched link to enable the source node to determine an offset delay of the circuit-switched link; and during a synchronization phase: receiving, at the first node, a second message over the circuit-switched link, the second message containing a timestamp derived from the timing source that is associated with the source node, wherein the timestamp contained in the second message is dependent upon a current time of the timing source and the offset delay of the circuit-switched link; extracting the timestamp from the second message; and synchronizing a local clock of the first node to the extracted timestamp, wherein the synchronizing compensates for the offset delay of the circuit-switched link.