Abstract: To prevent a handover ping-pong effect between base-station in WiMAX-compliant networks, a priority level is firstly assigned to the trigger causes for handover, and the prioritized causes are coded. Then codes are subdivided into a first class of unrestricted handovers and a second class of handover subjected to restriction. The first class includes the highest priority handovers. The second class includes a given subset of handovers with a high or normal priority intended for optimizing resources. Outside this subset the second class also includes handovers for power budget having a normal priority level. When an outgoing handover is decided, the actual serving BS either permits or selectively suppresses the Handover Request to the target BS when the latter is corresponding to the preceding serving BS for that mobile.