a digital subscriber line access multiplexor for operation within an access network includes a plurality of digital subscriber line modems for terminating a plurality of corresponding digital subscriber lines and aggregating them for onward connection through the access network . the dslam is operable , each time a data connection is established or re - established over one of the digital subscriber lines , to generate line data about the data connection at the dslam , to store the line data , to wait a predetermined period of time , to determine if the data connection is still operating successfully since the establishment of the connection without having suffered loss of connection during the predetermined period and then to transmit the line data to a management device which performs dynamic line management based on the data .