Home office communication system and method

A home office communication system ( 10 ) has a control and display system ( 16 ). A modem ( 12 ) is controlled by the control and display system ( 16 ) and connected to a telephone line ( 14 ). A multiplexer ( 18 ) is connected to the modem ( 12 ) and multiplexes a plurality of outgoing data streams in a predefined format and demultiplexes an incoming data stream from the modem ( 12 ). A speech encoding system ( 20 ) generates a plurality of speech packets to form one of the plurality of outgoing data streams. A telephone line control system ( 22 ) venerates a plurality of control packets forming one of the plurality of outgoing data streams and an information channel ( 24 ) forms one of the plurality of outgoing data streams.