There is disclosed a mixed mode equalization system for use in a transceiver capable of operating in a high frequency Ethernet local area network (LAN). The mixed mode equalization system comprises: 1) an adaptive analog equalization filter for amplifying a first high frequency component of an incoming analog signal by a first adjustable gain factor to produce an analog filtered incoming signal; 2) an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for converting the analog filter incoming signal to a first incoming digital signal; 3) a digital finite impulse response (FIR) filter for amplifying a second high frequency component of the first incoming digital signal factor to produce a digital filtered incoming signal; 4) a digital FIR controller for modifying at least one digital filter coefficient of the digital FIR filter according to a signal error associated with a digital output of the digital FIR filter; and 5) an analog equalization controller for modifying the first adjustable gain factor associated with the adaptive analog equalization filter according to a value of the at least one digital filter coefficient.