Methods and apparatuses for facilitating switching HSPA (high speed packet access) serving cells from each of an RNC (radio network controller), base station, and access terminal are provided. The RNC pre-configures an access terminal and each base station in an active set for HS-DSCH operation by providing identification codes identifying each of the base stations. The RNC transmits data packets tagged with sequence numbers to each base station where they are synchronously buffered. The access terminal initiates a handover by transmitting a PDU (protocol data unit) to each of the base stations. The PDU is encoded with the identification code of a target base station and a sequence number of a subsequent packet. The target receives the PDU and directly completes the handover with the access terminal.