Abstract: In apparatus for receiving digital data signals in a digital communication system, especially an Integrated Services Digital Network, timing recovery problems associated with erratic zero crossing when multiple terminals transmit to a common receiver are mitigated by detecting the rate of change of the digital data signal between two predetermined positions and controlling sampling of the digital data signal in dependence upon the difference between such rate of change and a reference. The rate of change conveniently corresponds to the trailing "corner" of a framing pulse, i.e. the point at which the signal commences the transition from one polarity to the other. The "corner" is much more stable, i.e. less susceptible to variation due to multiple terminal effects, than the zero-crossing which follows it, since the zero crossing may vary relative to the "corner".