A method is disclosed for tearing down a TCP connection between a transmission control protocol (TCP) client in a radio access network (RAN) and a TCP server, comprising: receiving, at the TCP client, an indication to close the TCP connection; sending, from the TCP client to the TCP server, a TCP segment with a FIN bit set to indicate termination of the TCP connection; and closing, at the TCP client, the TCP connection without waiting for double the maximum segment lifetime period, thereby releasing the radio bearer resources and achieving radio bearer resource optimization.