Disclosed herein are methods and systems for sending and/or acknowledging an access probe in a radio access network. In one aspect, a method for transmitting an access probe to a radio access network, wherein time slots available to receive communications from the radio access network are defined in control-channel periods, wherein each control-channel period comprises one or more control-channel cycles, is disclosed. The method involves (a) determining a wait time until a control-channel cycle that is assigned to the access terminal; (b) making a determination as to whether or not the determined wait time is less than a predetermined maximum wait time; (c) if the determined wait time is less than the predetermined maximum wait time, then transmitting an access probe to the radio access network during the assigned control-channel cycle; and (d) otherwise, if the determined wait time is greater than the predetermined maximum wait time, then transmitting the access probe to the radio access network before the assigned control-channel cycle.