Initiating a handover in a communication network

1. A method of operating a communication system to manage a handover of a mobile station from a source base station to a target base station, the method comprising:

monitoring a condition of a first backhaul link between the source base station and an access node;

processing the condition of the first backhaul link, a status of an application running on the mobile station, and a status of a file transfer occurring on another mobile station to determine if the handover should be initiated, wherein the status of the application indicates if the application is engaged in a web browsing session, and wherein the status of the file transfer indicates if the file transfer is nearing completion; and

in response to determining that the handover should be initiated, transmitting a handover request to initiate the handover.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring a condition of a second backhaul link between a second base station and the access node, monitoring a condition of a third backhaul link between a third base station and the access node, and processing the condition of the second backhaul link and the condition of the third backhaul link to select the target base station from the second base station and the third base station.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising processing a condition of a first wireless link between the mobile station and the source base station and a condition of a second wireless link between the mobile station and the target base station to determine if the handover should be initiated.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the mobile station communicates with the source base station over the first wireless link in a first protocol and wherein the mobile station communicates with the target base station over the second wireless link in a second protocol wherein the first protocol is a different protocol than the second protocol.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the first backhaul links comprises an Ethernet link.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the second backhaul link comprises a T-1 link.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the condition comprises an available bandwidth of the first backhaul link.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the status of the application indicates whether the application is participating in a real-time session.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the status of the application indicates a progress of a file transfer.

10. A communication system for managing a handover of a mobile station from a source base station to a target base station, the communication system comprising:

a processing system configured to monitor a condition of a first backhaul link between the source base station and an access node, a status of an application running on the mobile station, and a status of a file transfer occurring on another mobile station, wherein the status of the application indicates if the application is engaged in a web browsing session, and wherein the status of the file transfer indicates if the file transfer is nearing completion, and process the condition of the first backhaul link, the status of the application, and the status of the file transfer to determine if the handover should be initiated; and

an interface configured to transmit a handover request to initiate the handover in response to determining that the handover should be initiated.

11. The communication system of claim 10 wherein the processing system is further configured to monitor a condition of a second backhaul link between a second base station and the access node, monitor a condition of a third backhaul link between a third base station and the access node, and process the condition of the second backhaul link and the condition of the third backhaul link to select the target base station from the second base station and the third base station.

12. The communication system of claim 11 wherein the processing system is further configured to process a condition of a first wireless link between the mobile station and the source base station and a condition of a second wireless link between the mobile station and the target base station to determine if the handover should be initiated.

13. The communication system of claim 12 wherein the mobile station communicates with the source base station over the first wireless link in a first protocol and wherein the mobile station communicates with the target base station over the second wireless link in a second protocol wherein the first protocol is a different protocol than the second protocol.

14. The communication system of claim 11 wherein the first backhaul links comprises an Ethernet link.

15. The communication system of claim 14 wherein the second backhaul link comprises a T-1 link.

16. The communication system of claim 10 wherein the condition comprises an available bandwidth of the first backhaul link.

17. The communication system of claim 10 wherein the status of the application indicates a progress of a file transfer.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for operating a communication system to manage a handover of a mobile station from a source base station to a target base station, wherein the instructions, when executed by the communication system direct the communication system to:

monitor a condition of a first backhaul link between the source base station and an access node;

process the condition of the first backhaul link, a status of an application running on the mobile station, and a status of a file transfer occurring on another mobile station to determine if the handover should be initiated, wherein the status of the application indicates if the application is engaged in a web browsing session, and wherein the status of the file transfer indicates if the file transfer is nearing completion; and

in response to determining that the handover should be initiated, transmit a handover request to initiate the handover.