A method of receiving data from a first computing device to a second computing device through a network is disclosed. The transfer adheres to a packet-based network protocol. A connection between the first and second computing devices is established according to the protocol. A data packet is received from the first device at the second device, where the data packet includes payload data and a header. A packet header template is defined for acknowledging receipt of the data packet, and the template has static fields filled with static values and variable fields that can acquire packet-dependent values. The header template is stored in a memory device of the second device. Packet-dependent values of the variable fields of the template are updated. An ACK packet that includes a copy of the updated packet header is sent from the first computing device to the second computing device to acknowledge the receipt of the packet.