Techniques that enable user plane data to be carried by control plane messages and still be correctly recognized and prioritized as user plane data in a packet network are provided. A base station of cellular network receives a message from a user equipment (UE). The base station transmits a packet based on the received message over a packet network to a control plane component of the cellular network. When the UE data includes user plane data, the base station sets a differentiated services code point (DSCP) marking of the packet so the packet is prioritized as user plane data in the packet network. When the received message does not include user plane data, the base station sets the DSCP marking of the packet so the packet is prioritized as control plane data.