Systems and methods for managing packetized data handoff between base stations in a mobile communication system are described. In one aspect, a timer is utilized to decide when to perform path switch from serving traffic forwarded by the source station to traffic received by the serving gateway, and to preserve, to a large degree, the packet order from a gateway device to a terminal, during the handoff between base stations. When handoff is indicated, the timer is started and only packets that are received by the source base station is forwarded to the terminal, while the timer runs. When the timer expires, the target station switches to transmit fresh packets received from the serving gateway. The timer can be adjusted “on the fly” and has been demonstrated to maximize TCP throughput as compared to a fixed switch timer.