A mobile station (201) having an improved receiver capability over legacy mobile stations may detect additional base stations (205, 209) for the candidate list (219). The mobile station (201) provides a receiver capability indication to the network via a message such as an origination message, a page response message, a handover message, or a registration message. The message may utilize one or more bit fields of an information packet (300), or otherwise an information element (401) to convey the receiver capability information. The BTS (203) or BSC (109) will accordingly customize the mobile station handover parameters to better utilize the mobile station capabilities.