A method and apparatus to quickly adjust a targeted Eb/N0 in a wireless communication system by using an effective Eb/N0 for each frame. The Eb/N0 distribution of a frame produces a certain frame error rate. Effective Eb/N0 is the Eb/N0 that would produce the same frame error rate in a model channel, such as an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. The effective Eb/N0 for each frame is obtained and compared to a model targeted Eb/N0. The Eb/N0 for all of the power control groups in one frame compose the vector Eb/N0. The effective Eb/N0 for the frame is obtained by mapping a vector Eb/N0 into a scalar. The model targeted Eb/N0 is the Eb/N0 value that produces a desired frame error rate in the model channel. The targeted Eb/N0 is increased by one up step size when the effective Eb/N0 is smaller than the model targeted Eb/N0 and is decreased by one down step size when the effective Eb/N0 is larger than the model targeted Eb/N0. Eb/N0 are measured for each power control group in a frame. The wireless communication system includes a transmitter to transmit a signal, a receiver to receive the signal, and an outer control loop to adjust the targeted Eb/N0 based on a comparison of the effective Eb/N0 of the signal to the model targeted Eb/N0. Preferably, the outer control loop is implemented in software, although it can be implemented in hardware. Obtaining an effective Eb/N0 for each time period allows quicker adjustments of the targeted Eb/N0. This permits the targeted Eb/N0 to be closer to an Eb/N0 that produces a desired frame error rate, especially if the mobile is moving. This allows the transmitted power to be closer to the power needed to produce the desired frame error rate, permitting an increase in the capacity of the wireless communication system while still maintaining an acceptable number of errors.