Soft handoff of a cdma reverse link

A method and apparatus for base stations (218) and subscriber units (213) which allow soft handover of a CDMA reverse link and which make use of an orthogonal channel structure. Subscriber units send an orthogonal coded signal over a reverse link to base stations. A given base station provides timing control (510) for the time offset of the reverse link signal. On the basis of at least one criterion, a facility manager (515) decides that the given base station should hand over the time control to other base stations, and ensures a soft handover process. In response to a command or message for soft handover of the subscriber unit from the given base station to another base station, the subscriber unit makes a coarse time control adjustment to the time control of the coded signal. The subscriber unit can make fine-time control adjustments based on feedback from the base station that controls the time control. Multiple base stations can provide power control feedback to the subscriber unit.