A switch segments variable length frames into cells for transmission over a cell-based switch fabric and handles rate differences between the input data rate and the switch fabric data rate. The fabric handles multiple cell packets by maintaining a switch path until a certain number of cells are transmitted as indicated in a length field in the first data cell. The first cell contains a full data payload, and a length field value sufficient to handle a maximum length frame. Subsequent cells can contain less than a full data payload, with the number of valid bytes in the cell being indicated in the length field. The last cell used to segment the frame contains an end of frame indicator. The indicator signals the destination port side of the switch to terminate the packet path in the switch fabric prematurely--before the number of cells indicated in the first data cell.