Abstract: A communications module, and a consumer device comprising the communications model, is provided for use in a communication network with one or more consumer devices or “smart” appliances. The communications module includes a wireless transceiver for communication with the network, for example in accordance with the ZigBee protocol, and an interface for communicating with a host processor of the consumer device. The module receives scheduled event data over a wireless link on behalf of the host processor, and schedules events for execution by the host processor upon receipt of commands transmitted by the module. The communications module may include a virtual host module, which translates commands between a protocol used by the host processor and a protocol used by the communications module. The communications module is also configured to automatically seek and join a network, and to discover and bind to services provided over the network.