Described herein are implementations of various technologies for a method for configuring a seismic data acquisition network. A first message may be received from a first node of the seismic data acquisition network over a first direct communication link. The first message may comprise a first precision quality of a first reference clock to which the first node may be synchronized. A second message may be received from a second node of the seismic data acquisition network over a second direct communication link. The second message may comprise a second precision quality of a second reference clock to which the second node may be synchronized. One of the first precision quality and the second precision quality may be determined to have a higher precision quality. A real time clock may be synchronized to one of the first reference clock and second reference clock having the higher precision quality.