Consistent with the present disclosure, optical signals are modulated in accordance with a higher order QAM modulation format, such as 8-QAM, to carry customer data, for example. The optical signals are converted to corresponding electrical signals, which are then subject to further processing. In particular, phase data associated with the higher order QAM constellation is processed, such that the outer points of the constellation are rotated to have the same phase as the inner points. As a result, both the inner and outer points resemble a constellation, and both may be more readily processed using feedforward or feedback carrier recovery. After such carrier recovery, the phase data is further processed so that the outer points are rotated back and the customer data can be extracted from the phase data.