When polled, a remote unit (113) provides a radio access network (RAN 101) with an acknowledgment message. The acknowledgment message contains information such as the current window size, the number and identification of frames received in error, . . . etc. The polling frequency is based on a channel condition metric. More particularly, active polling timers that control the transmission of status information over the air interface are adjusted based on a bit error rate (BER) of radio channel such that as the BER of the radio channel decreases less control information is transmitted. Similarly as BER increases the timer values will change such that more control information is transmitted.