A fast handover method optimized for IEEE 802.11 networks. In a wireless local area system including a mobile terminal and at least two wireless access points (APs) that communicate with the mobile terminal over a unique radio channel, the fast handover method includes receiving a beacon frame signal from the serving AP and the neighbor APs of the mobile terminal; generating a first signal to determine a state of each of the neighbor APs based on the beacon frame signal received from each of the neighbor APs; comparing the first signal with predefined thresholds, classifying the neighbor APs into a detected AP, a candidate AP, and a target AP according to a result of the comparison, and storing the classification result in a neighbor AP list; and selecting an AP for the handover based on the classification result in the neighbor AP list.