A power line communication device includes a power line communication unit, a sensor to sense a physical connection to a second power line communication device other than via a powerline medium and a pairing unit to receive an indication of a physical connection between the power line communication device and the second power line communication device and to initiate a pairing process with the second power line communication device. A method of pairing communication devices which communicate along a non-data-cable medium includes sensing a data cable connection with a second device, entering an appropriate pairing state upon sensing the data cable connection, the pairing state being either an add device state or a join device state and performing pairing with the second device along the non-data-cable connection.