Apparatuses and methods for managing network neighbor relations using a reported timing advance

A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

• obtaining a list of a plurality of cells, wherein the list relates each of the plurality of cells to a first cell that provides a first portion of a communication service to the processing system;
• detecting a signal from a second cell, wherein the second cell is not included in the list;
• based on the detecting, determining a first value for a first timing advance (TA) parameter of the second cell;
• and
• based at least in part on the determining, obtaining, by the processing system, a second portion of the communication service from the first cell, the second cell, a third cell, or any combination thereof, wherein the third cell is included in the list, and wherein the second cell is blacklisted from or added to the list depending on a number of candidate cells that are determined to be available to facilitate communication services for the processing system, such that the second cell is blacklisted from the list if the number of candidate cells is greater than a certain amount.

A method, comprising:

• obtaining, by a processing system including a processor, a first value for a first timing advance (TA) parameter associated with a first device;
• obtaining, by the processing system, a second value for a second TA parameter associated with a second device, wherein an identification of the second device is included in a list of equipment that is related to the first device;
• obtaining, by the processing system, a third value for a third TA parameter associated with a third device, wherein an identification of the third device is not included in the list;
• comparing, by the processing system, the first value, the second value, and the third value to one another to determine that the identification of the third device should be added to the list;
• and
• adding, by the processing system and based on the comparing, the identification of the third device to the list, resulting in a modified list, wherein the third device is blacklisted depending on a number of candidate devices that are determined to be available to facilitate communication services for a user equipment, such that the identification of the third device is removed from the modified list if the number of candidate devices is greater than or equal to a certain amount.