A request to establish a call involving a wireless communication device (WCD) served by a radio access network (RAN) may be received. The WCD may receive signals from the RAN via a plurality of wireless coverage areas at respective signal strengths. The plurality of wireless coverage areas may be defined by the RAN. A media codec to use for the call and a target bitrate for the media codec to use during the call may be determined. Based on the target bitrate, a set of n wireless coverage areas through which the WCD and the RAN communicate during the call may be selected. The value of n may be between one and a predetermined maximum number. The set of n wireless coverage areas may be selected from the plurality of wireless coverage areas.