A system controller (10) having a first mode of operation to repage a wireless mobile station in a multi-zone wireless communication system (11). The system controller (10) accesses a location register (12) to obtain a zone location corresponding to a wireless mobile station. The system controller (10) then uses the transmission resources of the zone location to facilitate sourcing a wireless communication with the wireless mobile station. If the wireless mobile station does not respond, the first mode of operation for repaging the wireless mobile station includes the system controller's (10) accessing the location register (12) to obtain a second zone location and using the transmission resources of only the second zone location to source a wireless communication to the wireless mobile station.
