Difference between Hard Handoff and Soft Handoff

Handoff in Mobile Communication:

In Cellular Telecommunication, handoff refers to the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel.

Hard Handoff:

In mobile communication, the hard handoff is defined as a handoff where an existing connection must be broken when a new connection is established.

Soft Handoff:

In wireless communication, the soft handoff is defined as a handoff where a new connection is established before the old connection is released.

Differentiate between Hard Handoff and Soft Handoff in Mobile Cellular Networks:

Hard Hand-off	Soft Hand-off
1. It is defined as hand-off where an existing connection must be broken when the new one is established.	1. It is defined as hand-off where a new connection is established before old one is released.
2. Hard Hand-off is less complex than Soft Hand-off	2. Soft Hand-off is more complex than Hard Hand-off
3. It allocates different frequency.	3. It allocates same frequency.
4. Hand-off is basically used in FDMA.	4. Soft Hand-off is used in CDMA.