A method and apparatus for bundling packets together for transmission in a
Voice over IP communications network based on packet location within a
talk spurt. Illustratively, all frames other than the first and last
frames of a talk spurt may be advantageously bundled up to a
predetermined maximum bundle size. This results from the recognition that
the first and last packets of the talk spurt are the packets that will
most directly affect the conversational delay. Therefore, other packets
can be advantageously considered to be "non-critical" (with respect to
conversational delay), and thus, may be bundled together with one or more
other packets. In this manner, bandwidth may be advantageously reduced
without negatively impacting the perceived conversational delay.