A method of forward error control in which a transmitter receives data from an input device and creates one or more original codewords that are transmitted onto each of two physically distinct telecommunications channels. Two copies of the original codeword are transmitted to the receiver via physically distinct channels to increase the robustness of the telecommunications channel between the transmitter and the receiver and to minimize the elapsed time between when the transmitter transmits the original codeword and when receiver has a final estimate of the original codeword available for output.