A method and system for routing frames based on a port's speed using a fiber channel switch element is provided. The method includes, receiving a portion of a frame in a receive buffer of a port; determining a frame length threshold; and setting up a status bit based on the port's speed, the frame length threshold and an amount of frame received. The status bit is sent to a transmit segment of the fiber channel switch element and the frame length threshold value is inversely proportional to the port's speed. Also, if the receive buffer is almost full when a frame arrives at the receive port, then a cut status is based on a frames end of frame ("EOF") value.