What is disclosed is a method of operating a wireless communication system. The method includes determining a first round trip delay threshold to initiate handoff messaging, and determining round trip delay metrics for a plurality of handoffs in a wireless access sector. The method also includes processing the first round trip delay threshold and the round trip delay metrics for the wireless access sector to determine a second round trip delay threshold and wirelessly transferring the second round trip delay threshold to a wireless communication device in the wireless access sector, where the wireless communication device uses the second round trip delay threshold to initiate handoff messaging in the wireless access sector.