Synchronization of time stamps of peer devices in a communication node

A method of operating a first communication node comprising a plurality of peer devices, the peer devices in the first communication node communicate with a second communication node according to a common network address, the method comprising:

• in each of the peer devices,
• transmitting a message to the second communication node with a time stamp;
• receiving an error response from the second communication node indicating that the time stamp does not comprise an increasing time stamp;
• increasing the time stamp responsive to the error response;
• and
• transmitting the message to the second communication node with the increased time stamp.

A Packet Control Function (PCF) cluster, comprising:

• a plurality of PCFs;
• and
• a gateway system adapted to interface the plurality of PCFs with a Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN) according to a common network address, wherein the PDSN requires that the PCF cluster transmit messages with monotonically increasing time stamps;
• each of the plurality of PCFs is adapted to generate a time stamp based on a time of day (TOD) clock and an offset, transmit a request message with the time stamp to the PDSN, and responsive to receiving a mismatch message from the PDSN indicating that the time stamp does not comprise an increasing time stamp, increase the offset to generate an increased time stamp, and transmit the request message to the PDSN with the increased time stamp.