A method of and an apparatus for reducing the average power consumption in a remote unit in a wireless communication system. When a remote unit in a slotted mode communication system enters an active state, it receives a sequence of messages. One element of this sequence is a general paging message that command the remote unit to return to the inactive state immediately, thus conserving battery power. The general paging message is followed by several additional elements in the sequence. When the remote unit operates in a poor signal-to-noise ratio environment, for example, it may not receive the general paging message and may, thus, unnecessarily remain in the active state until the end of its assigned slot, wasting battery power. The invention determines whether the element received by the remote unit is a general paging message. If so, the remote unit enters the inactive mode. If not, the invention determines whether the element occurs after a general paging message in the sequence of messages. If so, the remote unit enters the inactive mode without waiting for the end of the assigned slot.