Abstract: An interface circuit is provided for implementing zero-byte substitution (ZBS) in a channel unit or line card which couples a digital subscriber line, such as a basic or primary rate Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) line, to a T1 network or other digital transmission facility. On the transmit side, the occurrence of an all-zero data byte in a B channel of the ISDN interface causes a corresponding zero byte indicator (ZBI) flag to be produced in the D+ channel, and also causes the all-zero byte to be replaced by the preceding non-zero data byte rather than by a prescribed or predetermined data byte. On the receive side, the occurrence of a repeated data byte in a B channel is detected and causes the current data byte to be replaced by an all-zero byte to restore the original data. The ZBI flag is then used as an error check bit to verify that the reinsertion of the all-zero byte was correct.