A method of fast link adaptation for Bluetooth long-range wireless networks is provided. A data packet comprises a preamble, a first packet portion including a rate indication field, and a second packet portion including a PDU. The first packet portion is encoded using a first modulation and coding scheme with a first rate while the second packet portion is encoded using a second modulation and coding scheme with a second rate indicated by the RI field. A transmitter thus can use different MCS options to support variable data rates by adapting to channel conditions, and then uses the novel RI field to indicate the data rate to a receiver dynamically. As a result, fast link adaptation can be achieved for different applications with different rate requirements, to provide higher data rate, reduce connection time, lower power consumption, and improve link quality.