The present invention provides a dynamic real-time quality management of packetized communications in a network environment. Packetized communications are monitored by and exchanged between wireless Access Points (APs) and wireless terminals or by quality monitoring modules located within network segments or at network vertices. The processing unit analyzes the packetized communications to identify communication signatures associated with the packetized communications. The processor then uses these signatures to identify network impediments to the exchange of the packetized communications. These impediments may take the form of coding problems in which case an appropriate coding scheme is employed by the programmable COder/DECoder (CODEC) to convert incoming packetized communications to incoming user communications, and outgoing user communications to outgoing packetized communications. These impediments may also take the form of communication problems along and between the various network segments. In these cases, the processor may choose a more appropriate communication pathway with which to route the packetized communications.