A technology is provided for operating a network-attachable electronic device, comprising attaching the electronic device to a frequency-hopping mesh network, the network having a synchronized broadcast channel schedule and an unsynchronized unicast channel schedule; deriving a common timing interval value of the network; establishing a subdivision of the derived common timing interval comprising alternating unicast transmit and receive slots based on a hierarchical position of the electronic device relative to a network root device; and at least one of transmitting and receiving at least one packet in a corresponding unicast transmit or receive slot with a one-hop network neighbour in a different hierarchical position relative to the network root device.