In this paper, the average error-rate characteristics are investigated as the number of users increases in the digital cellular DS/CDMA (Direct Sequence/Code Division Multiple Access) systems. Then, the performances of the various error control schemes applied to the data service of digital cellular DS/CDMA systems are compared and analyzed. That is, the performances of the conventional error control schemes such as Go-back-N ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) and Selective-Repeat ARQ are analyzed in the circumstance of digital cellular DS/CDMA system. Also, the improved error control schemes which utilize the variable window size and/or variable data packet size are proposed and evaluated in order to improve the performances of the conventional error control scheme such as Quick-Repeat ARQ and WORM ARQ schemes in the digital cellular DS/CDMA system environments. According to the simulation results, the performances of the improved scheme with variable window and variable frame size are superior to those of the conventional scheme in the view of throughput and delay characteristics due to the robustness to the fading channel impairments.