A computer program comprises instructions for advertising a plurality of communication modes. In response to detecting that one or more communication modes of a second physical layer module have been advertised to a first physical layer module, the computer program synchronizes the communication mode between the first and second physical layer modules based on the plurality of advertised communication modes of the first physical layer module and the one or more advertised communication modes of the second physical layer module. In response to not having detected that one or more communication modes of the second physical layer module have been advertised to the first physical layer module, the computer program detects whether the second physical layer module has been preset to communicate in a full duplex mode, and sets the communication mode between the first physical layer module and the second physical layer module to the full duplex mode.