A method implemented by a base station serving in a cell of a wireless communication network of monitoring power control loop stability, said method comprising: receiving signals from one or more user terminals; suppressing interference in the received signals with an interference suppression receiver to obtain reduced interference signals, wherein the interference suppression receiver comprises a GRAKE receiver or chip equalizer receiver; estimating neighbor cell interference from neighboring cells; computing a noise rise estimate as a function of the reduced interference signals and the estimate of the neighbor cell interference; and wherein computing a noise rise comprises: computing a noise rise estimate for individual user terminals transmitting on an uplink channel; and selecting the maximum noise rise estimate for the individual user terminals as the noise rise estimate for the base station; and wherein computing a noise rise estimate for an individual user terminal comprises: estimating a signal-to-interference ratio for the user terminal based on the reduced interference signals; and computing the noise rise estimate as a function of the signal-to-interference ratio and the neighbor cell interference, and determining power control loop stability based on the noise rise estimate, by comparing a first function indicative of a magnitude of the noise rise to a first threshold, or comparing a second function indicative of a rate of change of the noise rise to a second threshold. receiving signals from one or more user terminals; suppressing interference in the received signals with an interference suppression receiver to obtain reduced interference signals, wherein the interference suppression receiver comprises a GRAKE receiver or chip equalizer receiver; estimating neighbor cell interference from neighboring cells; computing a noise rise estimate as a function of the reduced interference signals and the estimate of the neighbor cell interference; and wherein computing a noise rise comprises: computing a noise rise estimate for individual user terminals transmitting on an uplink channel; and selecting the maximum noise rise estimate for the individual user terminals as the noise rise estimate for the base station; and wherein computing a noise rise estimate for an individual user terminal comprises: estimating a signal-to-interference ratio for the user terminal based on the reduced interference signals; and computing the noise rise estimate as a function of the signal-to-interference ratio and the neighbor cell interference, and determining power control loop stability based on the noise rise estimate, by comparing a first function indicative of a magnitude of the noise rise to a first threshold, or comparing a second function indicative of a rate of change of the noise rise to a second threshold. computing a noise rise estimate for individual user terminals transmitting on an uplink channel; and selecting the maximum noise rise estimate for the individual user terminals as the noise rise estimate for the base station; and wherein computing a noise rise estimate for an individual user terminal comprises: estimating a signal-to-interference ratio for the user terminal based on the reduced interference signals; and computing the noise rise estimate as a function of the signal-to-interference ratio and the neighbor cell interference, and determining power control loop stability based on the noise rise estimate, by comparing a first function indicative of a magnitude of the noise rise to a first threshold, or comparing a second function indicative of a rate of change of the noise rise to a second threshold. estimating a signal-to-interference ratio for the user terminal based on the reduced interference signals; and computing the noise rise estimate as a function of the signal-to-interference ratio and the neighbor cell interference, and determining power control loop stability based on the noise rise estimate, by comparing a first function indicative of a magnitude of the noise rise to a first threshold, or comparing a second function indicative of a rate of change of the noise rise to a second threshold.