A method and system for detecting and reducing data transfer congestion in a wireless access point includes determining a round-trip-time value for an internet control message protocol (ICMP) packet transmitted from a source computing device to a first computing device of a plurality of computing devices via the wireless access point. A data rate for data transmissions from the source computing device is increased to a value no greater than a peak data rate value if the round-trip-time is less than a first threshold value. The data rate is decreased if the round-trip-time value is greater than a second threshold value. Additionally, the peak data rate value may also be decreased if the round-trip-time value is greater than the second threshold value.