A system and method allows a network, in response to a cell reselection notice, to serve a wireless, wireless device sufficient data to complete a pending data transfer instead of performing the immediate cell change. Appropriate allocation of radio resources to the wireless device in the current serving cell and before cell change allows reduced packet data transfer latencies for small data sessions, better load balancing and traffic resourcing between cells, appropriate allocation of uplink resources in the new target cell, and enhanced control over network congestion.