In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for maintaining a vocoder and channel codec in substantial synchronization. The method may include receiving a configuration message that includes rate information and an effective radio block identifier at a mobile station, coding a current radio block via a vocoder and channel codec, configuring an encoding portion of the vocoder and channel codec with the rate information after performing the coding, and then coding the effective radio block using the rate information. Other embodiments are described and claimed.