A method, performed by an access point of a cellular network, obtains time information by identifying a control channel cycle boundary; at a beginning of the control channel cycle boundary, sending a request to a time server; receiving a response from the time server, the request including a server time; and obtaining the timing information using the server time. Obtaining the timing information includes using the server time and a first reference time to obtain an integer and a fraction; using the fraction to obtain a time difference; and using the time difference to obtain the timing information.