Abstract: A method for monitoring the bit error rate of digital signals according to the pseudo error rate technique which includes effecting an optimal regeneration of the signal elements in a main signal path by sampling each signal element in that path, and effecting a degraded regeneration of the signal elements in a secondary path. Regeneration in the secondary signal path is carried out by sampling each signal element twice to determine its value, once a fraction of half the element period before the midpoint of the element period and once the same fraction of half the element period after the midpoint of the element period, the two sampling moments being rigidly coupled together in time, comparing the result of each of the two samplings of one element in the secondary signal path with the result of the sampling of the same element in the main signal path, and utilizing the number of disagreements occurring over a given time interval as a measure for the bit error rate in the main signal path.