A 200 Mbps PHY/MAC combination for providing full duplex operation at 400 Mbps is disclosed. The PHY/MAC uses all 4 pairs of wire to create a single channel. A transmit and receive port of a physical layer device is connected to a first end of four pairs of category 5 wiring. A media access control entity sources PLS primitives to manage the flow of frames eight bits a nibble to and from the four pairs of category 5 wiring through the physical layer device. A switch is provided for trunking the four pair of category 5 wiring into a single channel comprising separate 200 Mbps throughput transmit and receive data paths to the physical layer device or into two channels comprising separate 100 Mbps throughput transmit and receive data paths to the physical layer device comprising separate 100 Mbps throughput transmit and receive data paths to the physical layer device. The medium independent interface includes means for providing an eight bit wide transmit data path from the media access control entity to the T2 physical layer device, means for providing an eight bit wide receive data path from the physical layer device to the media access control entity and means for mapping PLS primitives from the media access control entity to the eight bit wide transmit and receive data paths. The eight bit wide transmit and receive data paths of the media independent interface are clocked at 25 MHz, thereby each providing a 200 Mbps data path between the medium access control layer and the physical layer device.
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