A quantized channel rate and corresponding rate multiplier is determined on a transmitter-side of a communication system based on a measured minimum required bandwidth. In certain embodiments, the quantized data rate may be an integer multiple of the system's reference clock. The determined rate multiplier is then transmitted to the receiver-side at a default data rate prior to or near the beginning of a data transmission session, such as upon initialization. Prior to transmission, the data stream may be padded with some determined amount of null data such that the actual transmitted data rate is approximately equal to the quantized channel rate, and the receiver-side can readily recover the data clock using its known reference clock and the previously-provided rate multiplier.