Method for avoiding interference in a cable telephony system

A method of avoiding interference in a cable telephony system comprising the steps of:

• (a) categorizing each communication carrier from a plurality of communications carriers, based on usability, as either a preferred communication carrier or an ingress communication carrier, the preferred communication carriers so designated forming a preferred list and the ingress communication carriers so designated forming an ingress list;
• (b) ranking the preferred communication carriers on the preferred list based on a signal quality;
• (c) ranking the ingress communication carriers on the ingress list based on a elapsed time;
• (d) ranking the plurality of communications carriers according to a frequency, to create a frequency list;
• and
• (e) selecting a communication channel from the plurality of communication carriers based on a type of channel and the communication carrier's ranking within at least one of:
• the preferred list, the ingress list or the frequency list.

A method for avoiding ingress noise during a communication session over a cable system, comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving a traffic channel assignment and a alternate channel assignment, the traffic channel assignment selected from a preferred list of channels ranked by signal quality and the alternate channel assignment selected from a frequency list ranked by frequency;
• (b) transmitting a switching to alternate channel message over the traffic channel in response to a determination that a traffic channel is unacceptable;
• (c) acquiring an alternate channel;
• and
• (d) transmitting a re-connect request.