a method for optimizing power management in the transmittal of a variable rate data transfer between two wireless stations , such as a base station transceiver and a mobile station . this is achieved by determining the initial power and the initial signal - to - noise values based on the reliability of the transmission , the desired data transfer rate , the power required to transmit a fixed rate message , and the frame error rates . by the use of this invention , the capacity of a desired system and / or quality of a service provided by a desired system may be enhanced .