Selective centralized unit-user plane extended buffering

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions that, when executed by at least one physical processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

• receiving, by a centralized unit-control plane node within a telecommunications network, a message facilitating assignment of a specific centralized unit-user plane node to an item of user equipment, the message including first buffering-relevant information relating to an ability of the specific centralized unit-user plane node to perform a buffering procedure;
• evaluating the first buffering-relevant information against second buffering-relevant information indicated by the item of user equipment attempting to connect to the telecommunications network through the specific centralized unit-user plane node, the second buffering-relevant information indicating at least in part whether the item of user equipment is an appropriate candidate for the buffering procedure;
• and
• assigning, by the centralized unit-control plane node, the specific centralized unit-user plane node to the item of user equipment based at least in part on evaluating the first buffering-relevant information relating to the ability of the specific centralized unit-user plane node to perform the buffering procedure against the second buffering-relevant information indicating at least in part whether the item of user equipment is an appropriate candidate for the buffering procedure.

A system comprising:

• a centralized unit-control plane node within a telecommunications network;
• and
• a specific centralized unit-user plane node within the telecommunications network;
• wherein the centralized unit-control plane node is configured to perform a method comprising:
• receiving a message facilitating assignment of a specific centralized unit-user plane node to an item of user equipment, the message including first buffering-relevant information relating to an ability of the specific centralized unit-user plane node to perform a buffering procedure;
• evaluating the first buffering-relevant information against second buffering-relevant information indicated by the item of user equipment attempting to connect to the telecommunications network through the specific centralized unit-user plane node, the second buffering-relevant information indicating at least in part whether the item of user equipment is an appropriate candidate for the buffering procedure;
• and
• assigning the specific centralized unit-user plane node to the item of user equipment based at least in part on evaluating the first buffering-relevant information relating to the ability of the specific centralized unit-user plane node to perform the buffering procedure against second buffering-relevant information indicating at least in part whether the item of user equipment is an appropriate candidate for the buffering procedure.