An illustrative multi-lane communication method includes: (a) receiving receive signals on different receive channels; (b) converting each of the receive signals into a lane of a multi-lane receive data stream, wherein said converting includes demodulation and error measurement; (c) determining remote pre-equalizer adaptation information based in part on the error measurement; (d) detecting alignment markers in the multi-lane receive data stream; (e) extracting local pre-equalizer adaptation information in, or proximate to, the alignment markers in the multi-lane receive data stream; (f) using the local pre-equalizer adaptation information to adjust coefficients of a local pre-equalization filter; (g) periodically inserting an alignment marker in a multi-lane transmit data stream, wherein the remote pre-equalizer adaption information is included in, or inserted proximate to, the alignment markers; and (h) transforming each lane of the multi-lane transmit data stream into a transmit signal, wherein said transforming includes modulating and applying the local pre-equalization filter.