Recent research based on traffic measurements shows that Internet traffic flows have a fractal nature (i.e., selfsimilarity property), which causes an underestimation of network engineering parameters when using the conventional Poisson model. Preliminary field measurements demonstrate that packet data traffic in wireless communications also exhibits self-similarity. In this paper, we investigate the queuing behavior of self-similar traffic flows for data applications in packet-switching wireless networks. The traffic is generated by an on-off source with heavytailed on periods. We extend a previous relationship among the asymptotic distribution of loss probability, finite buffer size, traffic specifications, and transmission rate for a wireline system to a wireless system, taking into account wireless propagation channel characteristics. We also investigate the multiplexing of heavy-tailed traffic flows with a fi- nite buffer for the downlink transmission of a cellular network. Computer simulation results demonstrate that assumptions made in the theoretical analysis are reasonable and the derived relationship is accurate.