Method and apparatus to trigger a handover of a mobile device from a serving cell to a neighbor cell based on signal quality are disclosed. The mobile device measures signal strength and signal quality for the serving cell. When the signal strength exceeds a network-defined threshold and the signal quality falls below a mobile device defined threshold, the mobile device measures at least one neighbor cell. When a neighbor cell exceeds the network-defined threshold for signal strength and also meets the mobile device defined signal quality threshold, the mobile device sends a measurement report to the serving cell to trigger the handover. The measurement report includes modified values that indicate the serving cell does not meet network-defined threshold values and that the neighbor cell outperforms the serving cell.