A method, system, and medium are provided for managing bandwidth associated with a communication session characterized by a plurality of data packets being transmitted from a sender to a receiver. The receiver can include functions that monitor communication sessions and determine bandwidth adjustments corresponding thereto for optimizing the user's experience. The receiver can communicate feedback messages to senders that include requests for bandwidth adjustments. According to embodiments, senders can include well-known feedback listening ports through which feedback messages are received, enabling out-of-band user experience optimization.