Adaptive data rate determination for a reverse link in a communication system

A method and apparatus for determining the data rate of a reverse link communication of an access terminal includes receiving a reverse activity bit (RAB) from an access point in the communication system, and passing the RAB to a digital filter to produce a filtered RAB. In one embodiment, the reverse link data rate is determined based on the filtered value of the RAB. Furthermore, a processor in the access terminal may determine whether the access terminal is in an idle mode, and passing a non-busy state value of the RAB to the digital filter when the access terminal is in the idle mode. The filtered RAB may be compared to a threshold to determine a mode of reverse link data rate determination. The mode defines a set of criteria for an aggressiveness level of increasing or decreasing the reverse link communication data rate. The processor, therefore, determines the data rate based on the filtered reverse activity bit in accordance with the determined mode.