A method of dynamically controlling congestion in a wireless communication system. The method generally comprises the steps of: (a) the medium access control layer detecting congestion; (b) the medium access control layer communicating a control message with the data link control layer indicating a congested state; (c) in the congested state, the data link layer placing frames received from a higher layer into a data link layer queue and suspending frame transmission to the medium access control layer; and (d) upon receipt of a control message indicating an uncongested state, the data link control layer sending frames to the medium access control layer.