A hybrid multi-mode mobile station makes a decision either to encode and modulate a new user data packet using the same OFDMA or pre-coded CDMA mode used for the last retransmission of a previous packet or to switch modes based on inputs of a measured average transmission power of the previous packet and a Signal-to-Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) as determined from measurements made by the base station and either directly reported to the mobile station or calculated by the mobile station from measurements made by the base station that are reported back to the mobile station.