A method and system for improving the efficiency of radio communication by optimizing at the radio link protocol (RLP) layer. When TCP segments are passed down from the TCP layer at a sending device, they are accompanied by TCP segment information such as TCP segment length or TCP segment number. The RLP layer receiving the data stores the TCP-segment information along with the data, and divides the data into frames for transmission. Using the TCP information, when the RLP layer receives a NAK indicating loss of an RLP frame for which retransmission will not occur, the RLP layer drops not only that frame, but also any other buffered frames associated with the same TCP segment with which the lost frame was associated, regardless of whether the other frames have been transmitted.