Systems and methods for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) acknowledgement (ACK) packet suppression are described. In various implementations, these systems and methods may be applicable to low-power communications. For example, a method may include receive an incoming TCP packet at a TCP layer implemented by the communication system; de-encapsulating the incoming TCP packet using a TCP protocol to identify an incoming Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) packet; passing the incoming SSL or TLS packet from the TCP layer to an SSL or TLS layer; and signaling, by the SSL or TLS layer to the TCP layer in response to the SSL or TLS layer having received the incoming SSL or TLS packet, that a TCP acknowledgement be suppressed by the TCP layer.