The present invention is aimed at techniques for detecting the "partial loss" of an upper layer frame. One technique envisions a detection platform adapted to determine whether a packet is a final packet for a particular upper layer frame. A comparator platform then compares packets received free of transmission errors with variables indicative of whether all received packets in the particular upper layer frame have been received correctly when a final packet is detected. A transmission platform then sends a signal indicative of whether the packets received without transmission errors constitute the particular upper layer frame so that lost packets can be retransmitted quickly.