Various embodiments provide a method for transmission control protocol (TCP) packet transmission. The method includes receiving, by a receiver performance enhancing node (PEN), one or more TCP packets each with a timestamp and a sequence number from a sender PEN; evaluating a packet delivery time from the sender PEN to the receiver PEN; detecting whether any TCP packet is lost based on a packet sequence and determining a delay shaping time for each TCP packet based on a maximum number of retransmissions and an evaluated delivery time distribution; in response to a lost TCP packet being detected, determining whether the lost TCP packet needs to be retransmitted based on the maximum number of retransmissions; and in response to the determined delay shaping time, determining when a received TCP packet needs to be forwarded based on the determined delay shaping time and a timestamp associated with the received TCP packet.