SCHEDULING RADIO RESOURCES FOR SYMMETRIC SERVICE DATA CONNECTIONS

Radio channel resources are allocated in a radio communications system based on whether a requested data communication requested is associated with a symmetric service or an asymmetric service. If the data communication is associated with a symmetric service, a symmetric connection between the mobile radio station and the radio network is established for communicating data packets associated with the data communication. Radio channel resources are assigned to the symmetric connection for transporting the data packets between the mobile radio station and the radio network. The symmetric connection is assigned substantially the same amount of radio channel resources in an uplink direction as in a downlink direction. In one example, the symmetric data communication is a voice over IP (VoIP) communication. One example environment is a GPRS/EDGE type system where the radio channel resources are time slots and the symmetric connection includes an uplink temporary block flow (TBF) and a downlink TBF.