A wireless network includes a base station and a relay station for extending wireless coverage of the base station. Downlink data is sent by the base station and relayed through the relay station to a mobile station, where the downlink data is associated with a preamble that is sent directly from the base station to the mobile station. A transmit power of the relay station is adjusted for transmitting the downlink data from the relay station to the mobile station to reduce a difference between a first power level of the preamble received at the mobile station and a second power level of the downlink data received at the mobile station. The uplink transmit power of the mobile station for the data sent to the relay station is adjusted to compensate for the difference in path loss from mobile station to base station and mobile station to relay station and to compensate for the difference in noise_plus_interference level at relay station compared to that of the base station.