In a communication system that utilizes DMT technology to couple a primary site (102) to a plurality of secondary sites (104-108), carrier channel allocations may be performed as follows. When a call request is received, the primary site (102) determines the number of required bits based on the bandwidth requirements of the call. Next, the primary site (102) determines whether the maximum bit loading of a given carrier channel exceeds the number of required bits. If yes, the primary site allocates a carrier channel having a bit loading that most closely matches the number of required bits. If no, the primary site allocates the carrier channel having the maximum bit loading to the call, then calculates a remaining number of required bits. From here, the primary site repeats the above process until a sufficient number of carrier channels have been allocated to the call.