A method is provided for compensating for clock drift error and movement error of an access terminal. A forward link error is obtained that is attributable to at least a first error (e.g., clock drift error) component and a second error (e.g., movement error) component. The first error component and the second error component are estimated based on the obtained forward link error. A receive clock of the access terminal is compensated based on a combination of the first error component and the second error component. A transmit clock of the access terminal is compensated based on a difference between the first error component and the second error component. The forward link error may include a timing synchronization error between the access terminal and an access point as well as a frequency synchronization error between a forward link frequency and a baseband reference frequency.