Method of cell assignment in cellular communications networks using macrodiversity

Abstract

A method of selecting a cell from a certain active set of cells () to become serving cell for a mobile terminal () instead of the primary cell () of said active set of cells () during a call in a mobile communications network implementing soft handover, the method comprising the steps of: determining whether the radio access bearer (RAB) of said call is being served on a soft handover area or not, and: if said call is being served on a soft handover area, determining whether the user of said mobile terminal () can be considered static or in motion, and: if said user of said mobile terminal () is considered static, comparing the load of said primary cell () to the load of at least one of the remaining cells () within the active set (), and: if the load of said primary cell () exceeds the load of said at least one of said remaining cells () within the active set () by a predetermined factor, transferring the downlink user plane from said primary cell () to said cell () of said remaining cells within the active set (), which is less loaded than said primary cell.