A method and system is disclosed for detecting paging indicators using a multi-stage and multi-threshold detection mechanism so that a mobile terminal can be removed from an idle mode appropriately. After receiving a first paging indicator, it is determined whether a first indicator measurement corresponding to the first paging indicator is between a first and a second predetermined thresholds. After receiving a second paging indicator which may be a temporal diversity counterpart of the first paging indicator, a second indicator measurement derived based on both the first and second paging indicators is compared against a third predetermined threshold, wherein the mobile terminal is removed from the idle mode when both comparisons are appropriately conducted.