A method and apparatus for sending messages from a first network device to a second network device is described. In one embodiment, the method comprises constructing a data packet, the data packet comprising a House Code field for identifying a house code relating to the first and second network devices, the house code for identifying an address common to the first network device and the second network device. The data packet further comprises a Long/Short field for indicating whether the data packet is a long data packet or a short data packet and a Command field comprising a command, the command for instructing the second network device to perform an action. The data packet further comprises a Data field comprising information for use by the second network device to execute the action associated with the command, and an Error Check field comprising error checking information. The data packet is then modulated and transmitting over one or more communication channels.