A method of powerline communications including a first node and at least a second node on a PLC channel in a PLC network. The first node sends a physical layer (PHY) data frame on the PLC channel including a preamble, PHY header, a MAC header and a MAC payload. The PHY header includes a destination address field having a destination address therein. The second node receives the data frame. The second node compares its network address to the destination address before decoding the MAC header and MAC payload, providing power savings by allowing the second node to not decode the MAC header or MAC payload if its network address does not match the destination address in the PHY header of the data frame.