A communication system for operating a wireless communication network to manage machine-to-machine communications comprises a communication transceiver system and a communication processing system. The communication transceiver system is configured to wirelessly receive a data packet having a packet header, wherein the packet header includes a machine-to-machine communication indicator representing that a machine-to-machine communication in the packet payload is originated and consumed by machines and not human operators. The communication processing system is configured to determine at least one wireless network parameter indicating a state of the wireless communication network, and process the machine-to-machine communication indicator and the wireless network parameter to determine whether to transfer or drop the data packet. The communication transceiver system is configured to transfer the data packet if the communication processing system determines to transfer the data packet, and not transfer the data packet if the communication processing system determines not to transfer the data packet.