Methods and systems for adjusting a transmit power of a forward link or reverse link signal make use of variable adjustment parameters. The wireless signal is received to obtain a received signal. An observed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and an observed frame error rate (FER) for the received signal are determined. In an outer loop process, an adjustment increment is selected based on how much the observed FER differs from the target FER, and the target SNR is adjusted by the adjustment increment. In an inner loop process, a power adjustment command is selected based on a comparison between the observed SNR and a target SNR. The power adjustment command instructs the transmitter of the wireless signal to either increase or decrease the transmit power of the wireless signal. The power adjustment increment may also depend on the observed FER.