Interleaved reed solomon coding for home networking

A method of transmitting data packets over a non-dedicated local area network channel susceptible to random burst and/or white gaussian noise channel errors. Each data packet is encoded to form an error correctable encoded data packet, which is then interleaved, modulated and transmitted over the channel. The channel can be a telephone line. The encoding includes performing Reed Solomon encoding on each data packet to form Reed Solomon error correctable encoded data packets. Each data packet is cyclic redundancy check encoded prior to performing Reed Solomon encoding. Also disclosed is a corresponding method of receiving data packets over a non-dedicated local area network channel, and a corresponding system for transmitting and receiving data packets over a non-dedicated local area network channel.