Patent ID: 8812050

Claim:
A method comprising: initiating communications over a communication link between a long-range base station and a wireless device in a network environment; detecting that the wireless device moves in a vicinity of coverage provided by a short-range base station located in the network environment, the short-range base station configured to provide a substantially smaller region of coverage as compared to a region of coverage provided by the long-range base station; and selectively initiating a wireless handoff of the communication link from the long-range base station to the short-range base station depending on a type of data transmitted over the communication link between the wireless device and the long-range base station, the method further comprising: identifying a corresponding geographical region in which the wireless device resides; mapping the corresponding geographical region to a speed value, the speed value indicating a rate at which subscribers typically travel through the corresponding geographical region; and wherein selectively initiating the wireless handoff of the communication link from the long-range base station to the short-range base station includes initiating the wireless handoff from the long-range base station to the short-range base station in response to detecting that the speed value assigned to the geographical region is below a threshold speed value.