Forward link communication capacity of a communication system, which is providing from a base station to a number of mobile stations a number of forward communication links (123) corresponding to the plurality of mobile stations, is controlled by receiving gain setting (102) associated with at least one of the forward communication links, comparing the gain setting with a gain threshold (123), and adjusting a first encoding rate of at least one of the forward communication links to a second encoding rate based on the comparing. A gain offset (310) attunes the gain threshold (123) to update the gain threshold (123) according to a latest condition of the communication system. The gain offset (310) further is used to determine blocking of an incoming call to the communication system.