In this paper, we study the performance of the cumulative Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) in IEEE 802.16 networks. An analytical model is developed to investigate some important performance metrics, such as protocol data unit (PDU) delivery delay, service data unit (SDU) delivery delay, and goodput. A general scheduling scheme and the flexible retransmission of lost PDUs are jointly considered in the analytical model, which provides a more valuable and practical guideline for the system design and performance evaluation. Extensive simulations are conducted to demonstrate the impacts of different operational parameters on the performance metrics and verify the accuracy of the analytical model. Keywords Cumulative Automatic Repeat reQuest Á Scheduling Á IEEE 802.16