A wireless communications method, user equipment, and a network node are disclosed. The method includes: receiving, by user equipment, a message sent by a first network node, where the message includes measurement instruction information and connection indication information; measuring, by the user equipment in the RRC-IDLE mode, the neighboring cells according to the measurement instruction information, and obtaining measurement results; and selecting, by the user equipment, at least one to-be-connected cell from the neighboring cells according to the connection indication information and the measurement results, and keeping camping on the cell of the first network node when the user equipment is in the RRC-IDLE mode. Embodiments of the present invention can advance a time at which a new cell is found.