A method for processing data packets in a network communication environment. In response to receiving an acknowledgment (ACK) of a previously sent burst of data packets, the amount of data acknowledged is compared to the amount of data in the burst that was originally sent. If the ACK covers at least a predetermined amount (or more) of the data in the original burst, then a burst size parameter is increased for future communications; however, if the ACK covers less than the predetermined amount of the original burst, then the burst size parameter remains the same.