Selection of access node to serve a device, with the selection being based on RRC connection establishment failure history as to at least one other device

A user equipment device (UE) comprising:

• at least one processor;
• non-transitory data storage;
• at least one transceiver;
• and
• at least one antenna structure supporting air-interface communication;
• wherein the non-transitory data storage holds program instructions executable by the processor to cause the UE to carry out operations for controlling whether the UE will be connected with a first cell or rather with a second cell when both the first cell and the second cell are candidates to serve the UE, the operations including:
• determining a first Radio-Resource-Control (RRC)-connection-establishment failure rate of the first cell, wherein the first RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the first cell is based on one or more instances of RRC-connection-establishment failure experienced in the first cell by UEs other than the UE,
• determining a second RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the second cell, wherein the second RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the second cell is based on one or more instances of RRC-connection-establishment failure experienced in the second cell by one or more UEs other than the given UE, and
• using at least both the determined first RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the first cell and the determined second RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the second cell as a basis to control whether the UE will be connected with the first cell or rather with the second cell.

An access node comprising:

• a wireless communication interface supporting air-interface communication;
• a backhaul communication interface;
• and
• a controller configured to carry out operations to control whether a user equipment device (UE) connected with a first cell provided by the access node should connect instead with a second cell, the operations including:
• determining a first Radio-Resource-Control (RRC)-connection-establishment failure rate of the first cell, wherein the first RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the first cell is based on one or more instances of RRC-connection-establishment failure experienced in the first cell by UEs other than the UE,
• determining a second RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the second cell, wherein the second RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the second cell is based on one or more instances of RRC-connection-establishment failure experienced in the second cell by one or more UEs other than the given UE, and
• using at least both the determined first RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the first cell and the determined second RRC-connection-establishment failure rate of the second cell as a basis to control whether the UE should transition from being connected with the first cell to being connected instead with the second cell.