A method and system is disclosed for shifting the phase of a PN long code for access attempts by an access terminal in a wireless communication network. An access terminal may seek to acquire access from a base station that is detected by the access terminal above a threshold power level, even if the access terminal is further away from the base station than a threshold distance beyond which access is not normally granted. According to one embodiment, the access terminal will, upon determining that it is beyond the threshold distance, embed in an access request message an apparent distance that is smaller than the threshold distance, by phase-shifting a timing signal and encoding the access request message with the phase-shifted timing signal. The access terminal will then transmit the access request message on an air interface communication link to the base station.