Abstract: The present disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods for protecting bonding engines in network communications. In one exemplary embodiment, physical communication links, such as subscriber lines, of a bonding group are terminated by a plurality of access modules such that at least some of the communication links remain operational in the event of a failure of one of the access modules. Further, a backup bonding engine is used to protect the group's bonding engine. In the event of a failure or other operational problem associated with the group's bonding engine, the backup bonding engine is used to fragment incoming messages and to send the fragments to the operational subscriber lines. Thus, the bonding group can survive an operational failure of the group's bonding engine.

Abstract: The present invention uses a wiring scheme for data transmission. The wiring scheme includes designating N−1 telecommunication wires and a common wire to each carry N−1 signals. The wiring scheme further includes designating one telecommunication wire, other than the N−1 telecommunication wires, as a common wire for each of the N−1 wires. In addition, the DC voltage polarities of at least one of the N−1 telecommunication wires may be reversed to reduce the likelihood of overloading the common wire. The wiring scheme may be utilized in the context of many data transmission systems including: POTS, PSTN, DSL, data modems, facsimile modems, and ISDN. The wiring scheme of the present invention may achieve higher data rates for data transmission.