A communication node of the present invention automatically transmits original and duplicate packets over different paths in a communications network to improve delivery reliability of the packet and to decrease packet delivery time. A packet is typically marked for reliable transmission by the application layer of a source node, while a routing agent module within the node IP layer processes the marked packets. The marked packets are transmitted over redundant (e.g., primary and secondary) network paths from the source node to the destination node. The primary path is usually the shortest path between the source and destination nodes, while the secondary path is selected to avoid overlap with the primary path. The application or transport layer of the destination node filters or removes plural copies of received packets.