Abstract: In a method for directing packets in a radio network, instances of a packet sent from an origin node to a destination in the radio network are received at each of a set of receiving nodes. At each of one or more of the set of receiving nodes, the received packet is processed by delaying re-transmission of the packet for the delay interval following receipt of the packet. Transmissions of the packet for other nodes are monitored during a delay interval. The node then determines whether to re-transmit the packet according to the monitoring of transmissions of the packet. The node can determine the delay interval from a probability distribution, which can depend, for example, on the progress of the packet to its destination or on signal or link characteristics for the received packet.