An apparatus for wireless communication in a network, the apparatus comprising: (a) a wireless communication circuit configured for wirelessly communicating with at least one other wireless local area network, WLAN, station in its reception area; (b) a processor coupled to said wireless communication circuit within a station configured for operating on the WLAN; and (c) a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor; (d) wherein said instructions, when executed by the processor, perform one or more steps comprising: (i) operating said wireless communication circuit as a WLAN station configured to support at least one real-time application, RTA, that is sensitive to communication delays; (ii) tracking active real-time application sessions and identifying running RTA sessions with respect to communication times, rates and packet sizes; (iii) determining if pre-packet arrival channel access is to be allowed based on an amount of data to be sent and/or a period of channel access time; and (iv) attempting, if pre-packet arrival channel access is allowed, to gain access to a communication channel before a packet arrives in a pre-packet arrival channel contention process based on information provided by an application layer of the at least one RTA on what time the packet will arrive to a media access control, MAC, queue in a MAC layer of said WLAN station. (a) a wireless communication circuit configured for wirelessly communicating with at least one other wireless local area network, WLAN, station in its reception area; (b) a processor coupled to said wireless communication circuit within a station configured for operating on the WLAN; and (c) a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor; (d) wherein said instructions, when executed by the processor, perform one or more steps comprising: (i) operating said wireless communication circuit as a WLAN station configured to support at least one real-time application, RTA, that is sensitive to communication delays; (ii) tracking active real-time application sessions and identifying running RTA sessions with respect to communication times, rates and packet sizes; (iii) determining if pre-packet arrival channel access is to be allowed based on an amount of data to be sent and/or a period of channel access time; and (iv) attempting, if pre-packet arrival channel access is allowed, to gain access to a communication channel before a packet arrives in a pre-packet arrival channel contention process based on information provided by an application layer of the at least one RTA on what time the packet will arrive to a media access control, MAC, queue in a MAC layer of said WLAN station. (i) operating said wireless communication circuit as a WLAN station configured to support at least one real-time application, RTA, that is sensitive to communication delays; (ii) tracking active real-time application sessions and identifying running RTA sessions with respect to communication times, rates and packet sizes; (iii) determining if pre-packet arrival channel access is to be allowed based on an amount of data to be sent and/or a period of channel access time; and (iv) attempting, if pre-packet arrival channel access is allowed, to gain access to a communication channel before a packet arrives in a pre-packet arrival channel contention process based on information provided by an application layer of the at least one RTA on what time the packet will arrive to a media access control, MAC, queue in a MAC layer of said WLAN station. <EOS>