Method for adjusting transmit power during call set-up, and a cellular radio system

A cellular radio system comprising:

• at least one base station;
• at least one subscriber equipment, each subscriber equipment adapted to communicate with one of the base stations;
• a transceiver in the base station adapted to estimate a signal-to-noise ratio between the subscriber equipment and the base station in an uplink direction before an actual connection between the subscriber equipment and the base station is established, wherein the transceiver is further adapted to:
• calculate a desired transmit power for a transmitter in the subscriber equipment corresponding to the estimated signal-to-noise ratio;
• calculate an initial transmit power value for the transmitter using at least one power control parameter of the system and a time constant, the initial transmit power value being used to start a transmission between the subscriber equipment and the base station after the connection is established;
• and
• increase the transmission power of the transmission from the initial transmit power value to the desired transmit power during a period of time corresponding to the time constant.

A system for determining a transmit power level for a communication channel in a cellular radio system comprising:

• at least one base station;
• at least one terminal device adapted to communicate with the base station over the communication channel;
• and
• a transceiver adapted to establish the communication pathway between the base station and the terminal device, wherein before the communication pathway is established, the transceiver is adapted to estimate a desired power transmit value for a transmission over the communication pathway and an initial power transmit level, wherein the initial power level is calculated to provide a low quality signal-to-noise ratio, the desired power transmit level being determined by estimating a signal-to-noise ratio of the communication pathway in an uplink direction by monitoring an attenuation of a pilot signal transmitted by the base station to the terminal device over a control channel, and wherein the transceiver initiates the transmission over the communication pathway using the initial power level with the low quality signal-to-noise ratio and increases a transmission power level of the communication to the desired power level having a good quality signal-to-noise ratio over a time period.