In a system and method of determining a data flow metric in a wireless communication system, sending a plurality of test packets to a plurality of wireless devices in communication with an access node, determining a first inter-arrival gap and a first physical resource block-to-transmission time interval (PRB-TTI) ratio for each wireless device during a first time period, and a first comparison of the first inter-arrival gap to the first PRB-TTI ratio for each wireless device, determining a second inter-arrival gap and a second PRB-TTI ratio for each wireless device during a second time period, and a second comparison of the second inter-arrival gap to the second PRB-TTI ratio for each wireless device, and determining whether a data flow metric of the access node meets a data flow criteria based on the first and second comparisons.