In one embodiment, a multi-carrier CDMA network grants radio link resources to a mobile station by maximizing soft handoff conditions, by preserving frequency continuity with the mobile station, or by load balancing across carrier frequencies in two or more cells, or by some combination thereof. The network identifies carrier frequencies having two or more CDMA channels for assignment to the mobile station. If one of those frequencies was used by the mobile station to request resources, it may be advantageous to select that frequency; otherwise or instead, the choice is narrowed to the carrier frequency or frequencies having the greatest number of available radio links. From that point, the choice may be further narrowed, for example, by selecting the carrier frequency having the most favorable CDMA channel loading across two or more cells. In another embodiment, such multi-carrier load balancing is the basis of carrier frequency selection.