A method of enabling downlink (DL) flow control in a high speed packet access (HSPA) network is provided. The method includes detecting, by a user equipment (UE) radio link control (RLC) layer, at least one missing packet data unit (PDU) during a radio frequency (RF) outage in a dual subscriber identity module (SIM) dual standby (DSDS) operation, triggering, by the UE RLC layer, a status PDU indicating the at least one missing downlink PDU, transmitting, by the UE RLC layer, the status PDU to the HSPA network, and receiving, by the UE RLC layer, the at least one missing PDU, which is re-transmitted from a HSPA network RLC layer.