User cooperation in wireless networks implemented on the Network Protocol layer level attains a higher stable throughput and improved transmission delay. The cooperation is designed between a set of source user nodes transmitting to a common destination, where users with channels providing a higher successful delivery probability, in addition to their own traffic, relay packets of other source users whose transmissions to the destination fails. Each source user node is provided with an ample queue buffer having capacity to accumulate packets inadvertently received from other users in the system in addition to its own packets. Ranking mechanism facilitates in determining the “quality” of wireless channels, and the Acknowledgement mechanism facilitates in coordination of the transmissions in the system. The nodes exchange information on the queues status, and decision is made by a scheduling controller on the priority of transmission.