A method includes sending to a receiving device from a transmitting device a Radio Link Control (RLC) re-transmission scheme selected from a plurality of RLC re-transmission schemes, and using the selected and sent scheme at least at one of the receiving device and the transmitting device. In another exemplary non-limiting embodiment the method includes detecting, at the receiver, a gap in RLC Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sequence numbers, associating a timer with the gap, and starting the timer when the gap is detected. In still another exemplary non-limiting embodiment, the method includes detecting a gap in a RLC PDU sequence, monitoring a HARQ channel for a period of time to determine if a predetermined bit has changed, and determining if a transmission is lost.