A method and apparatus for transmitting a burst of data over a supplemental channel on just one leg of a handoff by changing the maximum allowed burst duration of the data to be transmitted over the supplemental channel as a function of the future and/or current characteristics of the communication link of the leg(s) of the handoff. The data is then transmitted over just one leg of handoff using the maximum allowed burst duration. By changing the parameters of the data, the data may still be acceptably received at the mobile terminal over just one leg of the soft handoff even when the strength of the pilot signal used for the supplemental channel changes significantly. In an illustrative embodiment of the invention the stability of the communication link is used as a way of ascertaining the future conditions of the communications link.