1. A method performed by a mobile device agent, instantiated on a mobile device that is configured to connect to a wireless access network, the method comprising: monitoring, a flow of packets comprising one or more packets associated respectively with each of a plurality of applications capable of executing on a processor on the mobile device so as to cause the generation of the associated packets for forwarding over the wireless access network; for at least a first subset traffic flow of the monitored flow of packets the subset traffic flow associated with a first strict subset of the applications, directing the first subset traffic flow to a first network element reachable through the wireless access network, the first network element having a destination address differing from a destination address specified in the packets as generated, and providing side information to a second network element reachable through the wireless access network, the side information comprising an identifier associated with one or more of the first strict subset of the applications that are associated with respective portions of the first subset traffic flow; and for at least a second subset traffic flow of the monitored flow of packets not associated with the first strict subset of the applications, forwarding packets in the second subset traffic flow over the wireless access network without directing them to the first network element.