Methods and computer-readable media are provided to determine which sector the mobile device will bias during soft handoff. Signals are received from multiple sectors, and for a first quantity of time slots of a frame, the signals are inspected to determine whether a quality threshold is met. Based on whether the quality threshold is met, each sector is assigned a power control command indicating that either a decrease or increase of output power is recommended when a subsequent signal is sent to the mobile device. For a second quantity of time slots, the overall power control command sent to the sectors corresponds to the power control command assigned to the sector that has communicated the highest quality signals for the first quantity of time slots of the frame.