Techniques for transmission control in a wireless communication system are described. In a system comprising a plurality of voice and data users, a threshold is set reflecting a minimum gain at which a data user will be allowed to transmit. At each of a plurality of time slots, the circumstances, including the instantaneous gains, of all data users are evaluated and the data user having the highest priority is selected as a candidate for transmission. If the candidate for transmission experiences a gain meeting the gain threshold, the candidate is directed to transmit at a power level inversely proportional to the gain. If the candidate for transmission does not experience a gain meeting the threshold, the candidate is inhibited from transmission.