A method of adapting transmit power levels and repetitions of transmissions from a mobile wireless device to a wireless network, the method comprising: at the mobile wireless device: measuring a downlink signal power level and a downlink signal quality for a downlink signal received from a radio access subsystem in the wireless network; receiving one or more transmit parameters from the radio access subsystem; calculating an initial transmit power level for an uplink preamble based on the received transmit parameters and on the measured downlink signal power level; transmitting a series of retransmissions of the uplink preamble to the radio access subsystem, eachsuccessive uplink preamble retransmission having an increasing transmit power level, wherein the wireless network indicates a maximum allowed transmit power level, and the wireless network indicates a maximum number of allowed retransmission attempts; stop transmitting the uplink preamble retransmissions after receiving an ACK or NACK response from the radio access subsystem; and when the transmit power level of a retransmission of the uplink preamble equals or exceeds the maximum allowed transmit power level and the measured downlink signal quality falls below a pre-determined threshold, limiting the number of retransmissions of the uplink preamble to less than the maximum number of allowed retransmission attempts. at the mobile wireless device: measuring a downlink signal power level and a downlink signal quality for a downlink signal received from a radio access subsystem in the wireless network; receiving one or more transmit parameters from the radio access subsystem; calculating an initial transmit power level for an uplink preamble based on the received transmit parameters and on the measured downlink signal power level; transmitting a series of retransmissions of the uplink preamble to the radio access subsystem, eachsuccessive uplink preamble retransmission having an increasing transmit power level, wherein the wireless network indicates a maximum allowed transmit power level, and the wireless network indicates a maximum number of allowed retransmission attempts; stop transmitting the uplink preamble retransmissions after receiving an ACK or NACK response from the radio access subsystem; and when the transmit power level of a retransmission of the uplink preamble equals or exceeds the maximum allowed transmit power level and the measured downlink signal quality falls below a pre-determined threshold, limiting the number of retransmissions of the uplink preamble to less than the maximum number of allowed retransmission attempts. measuring a downlink signal power level and a downlink signal quality for a downlink signal received from a radio access subsystem in the wireless network; receiving one or more transmit parameters from the radio access subsystem; calculating an initial transmit power level for an uplink preamble based on the received transmit parameters and on the measured downlink signal power level; transmitting a series of retransmissions of the uplink preamble to the radio access subsystem, eachsuccessive uplink preamble retransmission having an increasing transmit power level, wherein the wireless network indicates a maximum allowed transmit power level, and the wireless network indicates a maximum number of allowed retransmission attempts; stop transmitting the uplink preamble retransmissions after receiving an ACK or NACK response from the radio access subsystem; and when the transmit power level of a retransmission of the uplink preamble equals or exceeds the maximum allowed transmit power level and the measured downlink signal quality falls below a pre-determined threshold, limiting the number of retransmissions of the uplink preamble to less than the maximum number of allowed retransmission attempts.