Mobiles are sorted by using a first metric and one or more of the sorted mobiles are selected. A second metric is determined using the selected sorted mobiles, and mobiles are selected to transmit during a time period based on the second metric. Multiple embodiments are disclosed using these steps and exact or approximate solutions as to which mobiles should transmit may be determined. By way of example, the first metric may be a weighted marginal rate and the second metric may be an objective function. An uplink proportional fair technique is presented in which, for example, either a single "strong" mobile or a group of "weak" mobiles may be selected to transmit during a single time period. In addition, techniques are presented for determining uplink scheduling when there is partial orthogonality in Walsh codes, modeled by an orthogonality factor, assigned to mobiles. Techniques are also presented for optimal uplink scheduling for uplink mobile transmissions in a single cell with successive interference cancellation.