A system is provided for controlling the flow of data-packet traffic through an Ethernet telecommunications network having a multiplicity of nodes interconnected by multiple network links. Incoming data-packet traffic from multiple customer connections are received at a first node for entry into the network via the first node. Flow control messages are generated to represent the states of the first node and, optionally, one or more network nodes upstream from the first node, and these states are used as factors in controlling the rate at which the incoming packets are admitted to the network. Alternatively, the flow control messages may be used to control the rate at which packets generated by a client application are transmitted to the first node.