A method implemented at a transmitter in a passive optical network (PON), the method comprising the transmitter fragmenting a data packet into multiple frames, with each frame of the multiple frames including a data packet preamble, with the data packet preamble including an indicator associated with at least one lane to be used to transmit the data packet and a logical link identifier (LLID), the indicator identifying a first lane selected from a plurality of lanes, identifying at least one frame transmitted over the first lane, and identifying the lane order of the plurality of lanes, and the transmitter transmitting the multiple frames over the plurality of lanes.