Systems and methods for adapting a de-jitter buffer to conform to air link conditions. An air link characteristic may be detected before that characteristic begins to affect packet delivery, such as by slowing or speeding delivery delay at a subscriber station. A receiver-side de-jitter buffer, which adds delay to received packets, may adaptively adjust its size based upon the detected air link characteristic, such that the de-jitter buffer is appropriately sized for anticipated data packets before they are received at the subscriber station.