A novel adaptive distributed rate and power control (ADRPC) protocol is introduced for wireless networks. The proposed controller contrasts from others by providing nonlinear compensation to the problem of transmission power and bit-rate adaptation. The protocol provides control of both signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) and quality-of-service (QoS) support to bit-rate adaptation. Bit-rate adaptation is performed by local estimation of congestion levels, rendering little packet overhead, using Lyapunov based adaptive control methods. Performance of the proposed control scheme is shown through analytical proof and simulation examples.