Patent ID: 8107435

Claim:
A method, carried out by an access terminal, of switching between coverage areas of an access network, the method comprising: requesting, from an access network, data in a first coverage area at a first data rate, wherein the first data rate is determined based on at least one signal condition of the first coverage area; deciding to switch from requesting data in a first coverage area to requesting data in a second coverage area; in response to deciding to switch from requesting data in the first coverage area to requesting data in the second coverage area, (a) requesting data in the first coverage area at a second data rate, wherein the second data rate is higher than the first data rate, and (b) sending to the access network a notification of the decision to switch from requesting data in a first coverage area to requesting data in a second coverage area; and after sending the notification, requesting data in the second coverage area at a third data rate, wherein the third data rate is determined based on at least one signal condition of the second coverage area.