A system and method for determining an optimal configuration of the preamble for use in a wireless network is disclosed. The system and method use the calculated or given channel bit error rate to determine this configuration. There are two important parameters associated with the preamble; its length and the detection threshold. The detection threshold is a measure of how many bits can be incorrect while still detecting the preamble. The optimal value of the detection threshold sets a trade off between false positives and false negatives. In some embodiments, the system uses the channel bit error rate to determine these parameters. In certain embodiments, the detection threshold can be implemented by the receiver without knowledge of the transmitter. By optimizing the configuration of the preamble, the reliability of communications is minimally impacted while power consumption of the network devices is reduced.