Aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus and methods for operating the same that can improve out-of-sync and radio link failure handling in a W-CDMA network. A user equipment (UE) establishes a packet switched (PS) connection between the UE and a base station, wherein the PS connection includes a Fractional Dedicated Physical Channel (F-DPCH). The UE configures an in-sync threshold (Qin) and an out-of-sync threshold (Qout) for the F-DPCH, wherein values of the Qin and Qout are set higher than those of corresponding Qin and Qout of a Dedicated Physical Channel (DPCH). The UE further estimates a downlink (DL) Signal to Interference Ratio (SIR) based on one or more transmit power control (TPC) commands of the F-DPCH, and determines whether to release the PS connection based on a comparison of the estimated SIR and Qout of the F-DPCH.