Definitions for "Soft Handoff"
The process of transferring a circuit from one beam or satellite to another without interruption of the call.
A handoff occurring while the mobile station is in the Mobile Station Control on the Traffic Channel State. This handoff is characterized by commencing communications with a new base station on the same CDMA frequency assignment before terminating communications with the old base station. Cf. Hard Handoff.
In wireless communication, soft handoff refers to the overlapping of repeater coverage zones, so that every cell phone set is always well within range of at least one base station. In some cases, mobile sets transmit signals to, and receive signals from, more than one repeater at a time.