Patent ID: 8750231

Claim:
A method comprising: a radio access network (RAN) receiving a call setup request from a wireless communication device (WCD), wherein the call setup request indicates that the WCD supports a first media codec; the RAN obtaining a set of candidate wireless coverage areas for serving the WCD, wherein a first subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas support the first media codec, and a second subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas do not support the first media codec; based on (i) the WCD and the first subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas supporting the first media codec, and (ii) the second subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas not supporting the first media codec, the RAN assigning traffic channels to the WCD, wherein the assigned traffic channels include traffic channels from at least two of the first subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas, and wherein the assigned traffic channels do not include traffic channels from any of the second subset of the candidate wireless coverage areas; and the RAN communicating with the WCD substantially simultaneously via the assigned traffic channels, wherein the communication between the RAN and the WCD uses the first media codec.