Systems and methods for reduction of handover latencies in wireless communication systems are described herein. Some illustrative embodiments include a wireless mobile communication device that includes a wireless transceiver including a transmitter configured to transmit a first signal synchronized for reception by a first cellular node, and processing logic that couples to the wireless transceiver. Before the wireless transceiver receives a handover command the processing logic causes the transmitter to transmit a second signal for reception by a second cellular node to request allocation of an upload resource for communication with the second cellular node as part of an impending handover.