One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates transmission control in an Ethernet passive optical network, which includes a central node and at least one remote node, and wherein a remote node implements a data-link layer and a physical layer. During operation, the system starts by receiving, at the physical layer of a remote node, a word which is communicated from the data-link layer of the remote node, wherein the word may be a data word or an idle word. The system then delays the word for a pre-determined amount of time before allowing the word to be transmitted by a transmitter, thereby providing time for turning the transmitter on or off. The system also turns the transmitter on or off based on the content of the received words.