In accordance with one or more embodiments, aspects of the disclosure may provide efficient, effective, and convenient ways of managing the transmission of content items in a network. In particular, a device may be preconfigured with buffer priority assignments and performance metrics for various media types or data types. The device may detect a media type or data type for a packet corresponding to a content item, assign the packet to a buffer queue based on the media type or data type, and transmit the packet. The device may also determine whether performance metrics for the media type or data type are being met. If the device fails to meet performance metrics, the device may negotiate with other devices on the network to compensate for the failure to meet performance metrics and/or adjust buffer priorities as necessary.