A method for providing user equipment access to millimeter wave stations through a microwave station includes receiving an indication of millimeter wave stations operating within a microwave coverage area of a microwave station. In a microwave band, information associated with the millimeter wave stations is broadcasted to user equipment in the microwave coverage area. A request is sent to the millimeter wave stations to transmit configuration signals over a microwave band. An instruction is transmitted over the microwave band to the user equipment to perform proximity measurements of the configuration signals. According to the proximity measurements, a request is sent to a particular millimeter wave station to transmit beamforming signals over a millimeter wave band. An instruction is transmitted over the microwave band to the user equipment to perform beamforming measurements of the beamforming signals. According to the beamforming measurements, the user equipment is switched to millimeter wave operation.