Abstract: A method of reducing bandwidth used on a telecommunications link comprising, at an input to the link, the steps of: receiving a plurality of data packets, each packet comprising data and a packet identifier; determining packets which contain redundant data; transmitting, across the link, packets which do not contain redundant data; and further comprising, at an output of the telecommunications link, the steps of: receiving the transmitted packets; determining missing packets according to the identifiers of received packets; and generating data for the missing packets, which generated data corresponds to redundant data not transmitted across the link. This ensures bit count integrity between the input and the output of the link. Redundant data may be data following a predictable pattern, such as identical data. Where the packet identifiers are a recurring sequence of N symbols, the input transmits at least one packet in every N packets.