Test entity for verifying user equipment (UE) device layer 2 sustained downlink maximum data rate decoding performance may send a non-access stratum message to the UE device that requests activation of a downlink-only test mode, sending a first Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) status request to the UE device, send downlink PDCP packets to the UE device during a measurement interval, receive a physical layer (PHY) hybrid acknowledge request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) or non-acknowledgement (NACK) from the UE device and determine expected missed layer 1 packets based on the received PHY HARQ ACK/NACK, send a second PDCP status request to the UE device after the measurement interval, receive a PDCP status report from the UE device, and determine missed layer 2 packets from a First Missing Count (FMC) value or bitmap included in the received PDCP status report.