A method (700, 800) and apparatus (500, 600) for distinguishing cells with the same physical cell identifier is disclosed. The method can include receiving (820) a handover request message including target cell timing offset information at a potential target cell base station, where the potential target cell base station can have a physical cell identifier. The method can include comparing (830) the received target cell timing offset information with stored timing offset information at the potential target cell base station. The method can include sending (840) a handover request accept message if the received target cell timing offset information is substantially equal to the stored timing offset information. The method can also include receiving (720), at a wireless terminal, a target cell physical cell identifier and determining (730) a target cell timing offset of a radio frame of the target cell with respect to reference timing of a serving cell. The method can include sending (740) a measurement report including the target cell physical cell identifier and the target cell timing offset.