A station that generates data packets to be transmitted by the station such that the data packets spend a minimum amount of time in a buffer prior to transmission. The method includes receiving a specification for a connected discontinuous reception (C-DRX) cycle, the specification indicating when a plurality of onDurations of the C-DRX cycle occurs, the onDurations having a predetermined interval therebetween, receiving data at a known time relative to the C-DRX cycle, determining a modification to a conversion process that converts the data to data packets such that the data packets are stored in a buffer at a subframe immediately preceding one of the onDurations subsequent to the known time, performing the conversion process based upon the modification and storing the data packets at the subframe immediately preceding the one of the onDurations. In one embodiment, the data is raw audio data and the data packets are audio packets.