A method for combining two radio access network (RAN) cells into a virtual cell is disclosed, comprising: at a coordinating node, assigning a virtual cell identifier for a virtual cell, assigning a plurality of base stations to the virtual cell, and scheduling resources for a user equipment (UE) at each base station in the virtual cell; and at a base station of the plurality of base stations, constructing a signal containing two cell identifiers, the two cell identifiers being the virtual cell identifier and a physical cell identifier of the base station, and sending the signal to the UE, thereby improving performance for the UE at a cell edge of the first base station and of the second base station.