Techniques to start the transmission of packets early at a transmitting device and to play out received packets early at a receiving device in a wireless communication system. In one method for early packet transmission, a set of data frames to be bundled in a packet is received (e.g., from a voice application). One or more headers for the packet are generated for one or more protocols in the protocol stack (which may include RTP, UDP, IP, PPP, and RLP, or variants thereof). A transmission frame suitable for transmission over the air is generated as a sufficient amount of data in the header(s) and the data frames becomes available. Transmission frames are generated prior to receiving all of the data frames to be bundled in the packet. A header may be appended to each data frame and would include pertinent information used to recover and/or process the data frame.