A wireless communication system (100) and method for providing high speed uplink packet access from user equipment (128, 130) to a base station (114, 116, 118, 120). Each of the user equipment (128, 130) and the base station (114, 116, 118, 120) includes a transmitter (1106, 1206), a receiver (1104, 1204), and a controller (1108, 1208) coupled to the transmitter and the receiver. Data packets are transmitted from the user equipment (128, 130) to the base station (114, 116, 118, 120). Control information, corresponding to the data packets, is transmitted from the base station (114, 116, 118, 120) to the user equipment (128, 130). The control information includes an absolute grant channel indicator. The controller (1108) of the user equipment (128, 130) is configured to disable an uplink transmission of the transmitter based on a indicator in the control information.