A second base station capable of performing mobile node handoff operations involving a handoff of a mobile node from a first base station having a first communications link with said mobile node to said second base station, the second base station comprising: means for allocating a dedicated resource (1526, 1528) comprising dedicated access segments, said dedicated resource (1526, 1528) including at least a first set of uplink tones of a first plurality of set of tones (1510, 1512) that is to be used by said mobile node when establishing a second communications link with said second base station in a handoff operation, wherein contention based access segments are to be used when the mobile node does not currently have an established wireless link, a tone being a basic unit of an air link resource representing one tone for one OFDM symbol interval time; means for transmitting information about the dedicated resource (1526, 1528) to said first base station over a communications link between said first and second base stations; means for receiving, on said first set of uplink tones (1526, 1528), a timing control signal communicated over the air from said mobile node to said second base station; means for transmitting to said mobile node, after receiving said timing control signal, a timing synchronization signal, prior to receiving user data from said mobile node, wherein the timing synchronization signal indicates to the mobile node whether to advance, retard or leave its transmission timing unchanged; and means for establishing a secure communications link with said first base station prior to transmitting said information about the resource dedicated to said mobile node to said first base station using said secure communications link. means for allocating a dedicated resource (1526, 1528) comprising dedicated access segments, said dedicated resource (1526, 1528) including at least a first set of uplink tones of a first plurality of set of tones (1510, 1512) that is to be used by said mobile node when establishing a second communications link with said second base station in a handoff operation, wherein contention based access segments are to be used when the mobile node does not currently have an established wireless link, a tone being a basic unit of an air link resource representing one tone for one OFDM symbol interval time; means for transmitting information about the dedicated resource (1526, 1528) to said first base station over a communications link between said first and second base stations; means for receiving, on said first set of uplink tones (1526, 1528), a timing control signal communicated over the air from said mobile node to said second base station; means for transmitting to said mobile node, after receiving said timing control signal, a timing synchronization signal, prior to receiving user data from said mobile node, wherein the timing synchronization signal indicates to the mobile node whether to advance, retard or leave its transmission timing unchanged; and means for establishing a secure communications link with said first base station prior to transmitting said information about the resource dedicated to said mobile node to said first base station using said secure communications link.