A mobile station re-tries initiating a call after a previous failure of a call to that number due to poor air interface signal communication. When the mobile station detects such a call failure, it records in memory an indication of the call failure and the number that was called. Once the mobile station has found and registered with a base station with which it is determined that good signal communication can be established, the presence of a call failure indication in memory causes the processing logic to direct the mobile station to re-try the failed call.