Control of handover based on past duration of control-plane signaling

A method for controlling handover of a wireless communication device (WCD) served by a source base station, the method comprising:

• identifying a plurality of candidate target base stations for the WCD, wherein each candidate target base station provides air interface coverage in which to serve WCDs and is configured to engage in a control-plane signaling transaction on a core access network;
• respectively for each identified candidate target base station, determining by the source base station, based on past instances of the candidate target base station engaging in the control-plane signaling transaction on the core access network, a representative duration of the candidate target base station engaging in the control-plane signaling transaction, wherein the representative duration is based on an average of the past instances of the candidate target base station engaging in the control-plane signaling transaction;
• selecting by the source base station one of the identified candidate target base stations as a target base station for handover of the WCD, wherein the selecting is based on the selected candidate target base station having, among the plurality of candidate target base stations, a lowest determined representative duration of the candidate target base station engaging in the control-plane signaling transaction;
• and
• invoking by the source base station handover of the WCD from the source base station to the target base station.

A base station comprising:

• an antenna structure for engaging in air interface communication with wireless communication devices (WCDs);
• a backhaul communication interface for engaging in backhaul communication on a core access network;
• a controller configured to control handover of a WCD served by the base station, wherein the controller is configured to (i) select a target base station to which to hand over the WCD, wherein selecting of the target base station is based on the controller determining that, among a plurality of candidate target base stations that are each configured to engage in a particular control-plane signaling transaction on the core access network, the selected target base station's engaging in the particular control-plane signaling transaction on the core access network has historically been quickest compared with each other candidate target base station's engaging in the particular control-plane signaling transaction on the core access network, wherein determining that the selected target base station's engaging in the particular control-plane signaling transaction on the core access network has historically been quickest compared with each other candidate target base station's engaging in the particular control-plane signaling transaction on the core access network is based on an average of durations of past instances of the selected target base station's engaging in the particular control-plane signaling transaction, and (ii) invoke handover of the WCD to the selected target base station.