Disclosed herein are methods of providing a client with local area network connectivity and access to other services in a cable network. One such method includes: allocating bandwidth in the network to support bi-directional data communication between the host and a central concentrator. Bandwidth is allocated for a downstream flow on at least one downstream frequency channel based on a mapping between the downstream flow and a particular octet in a downstream packet. Bandwidth is allocated for an upstream flow on at least one non-shared upstream tone. The method also includes conveying a bi-directional data flow between the host and the concentrator over the allocated bandwidth, including conveying the upstream flow using the allocated bandwidth and conveying the downstream flow using the allocated bandwidth. The method also includes utilizing bandwidth in the network not allocated to data communications to provide the host with at least one audio/visual service.