In the described system, one or more base stations transmit a signal to a mobile station. The signal is transmitted using polarisation diversity, whereby the signal is transmitted in one direction using two signal beams, each signal beam being differently polarised. A method of beam-hoping may be employed whereby the polarisation of the transmitted beams during hand off is varied according to predefined sequence. The sequence may be determined according to the data loading within the respective transmission cells. Also disclosed is a method of soft or softer hand off within a wireless communication system where the total number of signal beams transmitted from two base stations to a single mobile station during hand off is kept constant.