The present invention is a method and apparatus in a data processing system that includes a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication system for improving transmit and receive data paths. The communication system includes a digital signal processing unit. The digital signal processing unit includes a mandatory coder/decoder (codec) that does not include an internal packet loss concealment (PLC) function, an internal voice activity detection (VAD) function, an internal comfort noise generation (CNG) function, or an internal discontinuous transmission generation (DTX) function. The digital signal processing unit also includes an enhanced codec that includes any combination of the following modules all internal to the enhanced codec: internal packet loss concealment (PLC) function, a voice activity detection (VAD) function, a comfort noise generation (CNG) function, and a discontinuous transmission generation (DTX) function. The digital signal processing unit does not include a separate packet loss concealment (PLC) module, a separate voice activity detection (VAD) module, a separate comfort noise generation (CNG) module, or a separate discontinuous transmission generation (DTX) module. An input signal is received within the digital processing unit. A determination is made regarding whether the input signal includes voice data. If the input signal does include voice data, the input signal is processed utilizing the mandatory codec. If the input signal does not include voice data, the input signal is processed utilizing the enhanced codec.