Systems and methods for communicating in a wireless communication system are described. One implementation is provided for controlling aspects of a wireless communication system network via a traffic detection function at the user equipment. The method includes obtaining, at an electronic device, an application configuration, the application configuration including an application identifier identifying an application of a plurality of applications and a network communication characteristic corresponding to each of the plurality of applications. The method further includes detecting, at the electronic device, the application identifier in a packet of network traffic. The method also includes transmitting, from the electronic device, the packet of network traffic based on the network communication characteristic corresponding to the detected application identifier. By providing an application identifier, fine grained (e.g., application specific) network controls may be implemented such as quality of service, charging/accounting, idle handoff, and traffic redirection/load balancing.