The invention relates to a method for managing an access point of a communication network, said access point being suitable for supplying data packets to at least one communication terminal connected to said access point, said method comprising the following steps when the access point is inactive or on standby:a plurality of data packets are placed in a queue, a data packet having a waiting time d at the expiration of which the packet is considered lost;for each waiting time value d, the transmission time of the data packets having a waiting time d is determined; and if, for a waiting time d, a corresponding transmission time Td is higher than said corresponding waiting time d, the duration d−Td thus being negative, the method comprises a step of activating said access point in order to transmit packets from the queue, the transmitted packets preferably being those having a low waiting time.