An automatically provisioned network element (26) has the ability to detect a heartbeat message interval used by a remote network element (22, 24) and to automatically adjust a heartbeat interval timer value that it uses for sending subsequent heartbeat messages. The adjustment is responsive to the interval used by the remote network element 50 that they correspond to each other. By automatically configuring the heartbeat timer interval value so that there is correspondence between the intervals used by the end points on a link over which Cisco HDLC SLARP communications occur, for example, the chance of a link being considered to have failed is decreased. In a disclosed example, the heartbeat interval timer value is initially set to a value that is expected to be higher than that used by the remote network element and only automatic reductions in the heartbeat message interval timer value are permitted.