A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a controller to: determine crosstalk coupling characteristics between a plurality of lines of a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) system connected to a plurality of modems based on a transition between a full power mode and one or more other modes, and provide the determined crosstalk coupling characteristics to one or more of the plurality of modems for performance of at least one of pre-coding a transmitted signal and processing a received signal along a line of the plurality of lines, where the pre-coding and processing is performed based at least in part on the determined crosstalk coupling characteristics, and where the pre-coding of the transmitted signal and the processing of the received signal reduce effects of fluctuating crosstalk. Other embodiments are disclosed.