A method and apparatus to facilitate service negotiation by a digital telecommunications system that allows a low activity communication to be transmitted by the system over vocoded channels. In one embodiment, once the telecommunication system is noticed that a low activity signal needs to be transmitted, each telecommunication system vocoder involved in the transmission automatically locks into full rate, and where applicable, adjusts the transmission power to reduce frame error rate. Further, the telecommunications system may include any number of wireless links. The invention includes a noticing apparatus coupled to a sensor that receives a low activity communication device attachment and notices the digital telecommunications system that a low activity communication is being initiated or discontinued.