Systems and methodologies are described that effectuate or facilitate detecting a cell (serving or neighboring cell) in multichannel wireless communication environments. In accordance with various aspects set forth herein, systems and/or methods are provided that receive signals from multiple cells and identify candidate cells based at least in part on the received signals, compare signal metrics for each of the candidate cells, select signal metrics associated with each of the candidate cells, and compare signal metrics to identify proximate base stations located within a candidate cell.