Embodiments of a device and method are disclosed. In an embodiment, a physical layer (PHY) device that is compatible with the IEEE 802.3 standard and that utilizes carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) for media access control to a shared media is disclosed. The PHY device includes a physical coding sublayer transmitter (PCS-TX), a physical medium attachment transmitter (PMA-TX), a physical coding sublayer receiver (PCS-RX), a physical medium attachment receiver (PMA-RX), and a media access priority manager configured to initiate transmission of an indication of a priority of a frame that is to be transmitted onto the shared media.