A method and system for delaying retransmission of data to a wireless terminal in response to a determination that a communication path to the wireless terminal does not currently exist. For instance, when a server, e.g., a proxy server or an application server, sends data to a cellular base station for transmission to a wireless terminal, the base station could determine that a radio link to the wireless terminal is not currently available. In order to prevent the server from continuously retransmitting the data to the base station due to the absence of an acknowledgement from the wireless terminal, the base station can notify the server to delay retransmission. A benefit of this arrangement is that the base station will not have to receive and buffer many copies of the same data while the base station waits for a communication path to the wireless terminal to become available.