The present disclosure provides a computer-implemented method for communication with radio frequency (RF) amplifiers in a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network, the computer-implemented method including: providing, by one or more computer processors, return communications from one or more RF amplifiers to a headend; and providing, by the one or more computer processors, forward communications from the headend to the one or more RF amplifiers, wherein: the return communications and the forward communications use out of band (OOB) communication protocols.