A user equipment (UE) determines an uplink timing advance of a target NodeB, such as an uplink dedicated physical channel (DPCH) transmit timing, during handover transition when the UE receives a handover command without a random access configuration. In one instance, the UE modifies a current timing advance of a source eNodeB based on a difference between an uplink timing of the source eNodeB and a downlink timing of the source eNodeB and a difference between an uplink timing of the target NodeB and a downlink timing of the target NodeB. In another instance, the UE determines the uplink timing advance of the target NodeB based on the modified current uplink timing advance of the source eNodeB.