Determining to initiate a user equipment handover event based on a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio value is disclosed. The disclosed subject matter can employ the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio value in lieu of a reference signal receive power value. In an aspect, a handover based on the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio value can generally be determined faster and with greater reliability than basing the handover on the reference signal receive power value. In an aspect, some embodiments can substitute a determined uplink signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio value for a downlink signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio value. In some embodiments, a predicted signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio value can be determined based on historical channel characteristics, hysterical wireless network environment features, or other historical data. A predicted signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio value can be validated to a determined current signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio value, permitting a validated predicted value to be employed until a next validation event.