This invention relates to communication of data via optical communication links. More specifically, the invention concerns a method of increasing data communication speeds, as well as network architectures employing the same. The Internet is a new phenomenon that has grown immensely and is changing rapidly. It started in the early 1970s as a network of university research laboratories which evolved to enable the exchange of electronic mail amongst its member institutions. The technology behind the Internet has progressed at an ever increasing pace with the attendant advent of the World Wide Web, the worldwide collection of interconnected data sites containing information content, in the form of inter-linked hypertext documents and resources, referred to herein as “Web pages”. In order to allow for continued growth of this new medium and for it to survive as a viable commercial entity it needs to solve problems which are unique to itself and yet also common to other communications networks and to many types of telecommunications systems in general. One such problem is the availability of adequate bandwidth and the associated physical transport or transmission media. Another such problem is the problem of routing data from one data source to a selected data destination on a network. Several solutions to these problems have been advanced by the practitioners in the art. It is important to stress at the outset that the instant invention relates to point-to-point data communication, as opposed to shared broadcast or multicast transmissions. For example, although multicast transmissions may be made point-to-multipoint, the use of the same communications media to make point-to-point communications would require an explosion in its overall capacity. This is primarily due to the fact that the same media will be accessed by all the data source and destination nodes, and may be effectively monopolized by them. These networks also differ from conventional telephone switching networks in that point-to-point (rather than multipoint) access is more effective in dealing with the fact that the number of communicating nodes is generally low. These networks differ from other networks employing optical media in that the transmission distances are generally short. One of the most common solutions to the problem of the availability of adequate bandwidth for point-to-point communication is the use of optical fibers to interconnect the network elements. This solution allows for point-to-point communications within, or without, metropolitan areas. These networks also allow the possibility of very high transmission speeds, in fact, transmission over fiber optic links has become the standard for point-to-point communications in the Internet. Fibers however are expensive and suffer from several inherent difficulties. They are not suitable for short distances. Fiber connections need to be made to each network element, and each added connection further reduces the capacity for communication within that segment of the network. This is especially disadvantageous in metropolitan area networks where the nodes are commonly only a few kilometers apart. Finally, and most importantly, the time delays which accompany communication over fiber optic links are much longer than for electronic or microwave links. Since the majority of network traffic is bursty this leads to an inefficient utilization of the network bandwidth. Consequently, much of the new bandwidth created by optical fibers is used to interconnect metropolitan area networks (MANs), where point-to-point connections can be made with minimum inconvenience and cost. This, however, is not a complete solution to the problem of expanding the bandwidth. Another solution is the use of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). WDM allows the use of the same optical fiber link for many data channels, with each channel being accessed by selecting the correct wavelength. Optical WDM is especially attractive because of its inherent ability to increase the density of data channels, and, consequently, the bandwidth, of any given fiber. However, a significant cost is incurred by this solution since WDM add/drop devices need to be installed in the network at every network node, adding complexity and cost. This solution also requires that the optical link carry a constant, minimum channel data rate throughout its length, limiting its applicability to short links. Finally, WDM is not suitable for metropolitan area networks, due to the cost, complexity, and space requirements of the optical add/drop components. Another solution is to provide an effective point-to-point, point-to-multipoint network which offers a high density of data sources and destinations (e.g., data rates, bandwidth) per physical link (e.g., fiber, wireless). A number of different wireless technologies have been proposed or are in use to address the problem of providing fast connectivity between data sources and destinations in an ad-hoc network. These technologies include: radio frequency (RF), spread spectrum, carrierless AM/FM (pulse), ultra wide band (UWB), microwave, infrared, sonar, acoustic, and laser based technologies. For a description of each of these technologies see “Survey of Mobile Radio Technologies,” V. Ramaswami, IEEE Communications, pp. 73–87, December 1993. These wireless technologies require either line of sight or the use of high power transmitters in the case of the infrared, and microwave, technologies. In addition, infrared and microwave devices are vulnerable to atmospheric conditions, resulting in poor transmission quality or communication loss. A particular wireless technology, the laser-based technology, appears to be a good candidate to achieve the primary goals of a mobile point-to-point communications network, especially when combined with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). WDM is capable of delivering a significant increase in bandwidth density in optical fiber transmission systems. It has previously been proposed that laser based systems can be used to deliver wireless transmission capabilities over the Internet. See, “The Topology and Performance of a Laser Driven Wireless Network,” J. Burch and J. D. Raycroft, Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 10, No. 8, pp. 1305–1316, August 1992, and “Channel Architectures for a Multi-Wavelength Optical Local Area Network,” S. C. Peiffer, J. J. Pan, A. I. Willner, and J. C. Doyle, Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 11, No. 5, pp. 1142–1157, May 1993. These articles are incorporated herein by reference. Another such article is “The Laser Phone,” T. R. Fischer and C. M. Cox, Lightwave Technology Magazine, pp. 48–53, February 1991, which describes a WDM fiber based telephone network. These systems however do not necessarily provide optimum performance. This may be due to the particular laser technologies that have been used to date, which technologies are designed to maximize bandwidth rather than to minimize data latency. For example, some systems may be bandwidth limited by the finite width of the optical filters used for wavelength separation. It is important to note that unlike electronic links such as copper wires, the optical links do not have a constant bandwidth and typically change in bandwidth depending upon the transmission rate (i.e., bits per second) being transmitted. Therefore, in order to have a minimum data latency, the laser based system should be designed to meet the highest transmission rate. This means that a first set of laser systems which only work well at very high data transmission rates will be used unnecessarily most of the time. This will lead to poor overall system utilization. Another article, “Latency and Distance Performance in a Wireless LAN System,” R. P. Loce and J. Krumviede, Journal of Communications, Conference, pp. 32.6.1–32.6.5, September 1992, incorporated herein by reference, describes a radio frequency (RF) based LAN system which employs adaptive modulation and adaptive coding. That article notes that at moderate data rates, the RF transmissions consume most of the system capacity. That article proposes a shared wireless LAN system which optimizes transmission and reception time to eliminate wasted bandwidth. In addition to the high data rates associated with RF systems, a major disadvantage with radio frequency systems is the fact that these systems need very clear line of sight between the transmitters and receivers, as well as clear line of sight between any transceivers and any receivers. There is a need for a wireless network with a minimum of transmission delay which utilizes the available bandwidth more efficiently, is highly resistant to atmospheric conditions, and works well even when the communication channel is busy, i.e., congested.