Methods of controlling the power levels of transmitted signals in telecommunication systems are described. For example, a remote terminal measures the quality of a received signal, either by determining the frame error rate or the bit error rate, and reports its quality measurement to a network by sending a quality message. The network causes the signal transmitters to adjust their transmit power levels appropriately. Faster power control methods may be combined with slower power control methods for downlink (network to remote terminal) transmissions in various communications scenarios, such as soft hand-overs.