A system and method for improving or maintaining the quality of service delivered by a network with respect to a preferred type of information carried by the network. The status of the network is monitored to determine if the actual or projected quality of service being provided by the network for the preferred information meets a quality of service requirement. If the quality of service does not meet the requirement, a message is formulated and sent to an end-user terminals such as a wireless handset. The message instructs the terminal to change a parameter by which the terminal sends information to the network. For example, the message can instruct the terminal to send less non-preferred information to the network, or change the compression scheme used to send a type of information to the network.