A method is performed by a wireless device. The method includes (a) preselecting a set of the base stations; (b) selecting a reverse link cost according to a preselected reverse link cost metric; (c) selecting a base station from the set of base stations; and (d) sending a probe signal at the selected reverse link cost to the selected base station. If a response is not received from the selected base station within a preselected time period and not all the base stations have been sent a probe signal at substantially the selected reverse link cost, then steps (c) through (d) are repeated with a different one of the base stations at substantially the selected reverse link cost. If a response is received from the selected base station within the timeout period, then the responding base station is selected to provide access to the wireless network.