Controlling utilization of network paths for machine-type communications

A system comprising one or more network devices in an evolved packet core (ePC) network, the network devices including:

• one or more memories to store instructions;
• and
• one or more processors to execute the instructions to:
• store, in the one or more memories, a subscriber profile for a machine-type communication (MTC) device, the subscriber profile including an access point name (APN) configuration that differentiates, for non-Internet Protocol (IP)-type communications, types of bearer paths between the MTC device and the ePC network,
• receive an attach request from the MTC device,
• retrieve, based on the attach request, the subscriber profile,
• determine if the subscriber profile indicates an APN configuration for a non-IP bearer, and
• when the subscriber profile indicates an APN configuration for a non-IP bearer, identify in the subscriber profile an MTC-ePC delivery mechanism between the MTC device and the ePC network, wherein the MTC-ePC delivery mechanism includes one of a user plane and a control plane.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by at least one processor, the computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions to:

• store, in the one or more memories, a subscriber profile for a machine-type communication (MTC) device, the subscriber profile including an access point name (APN) configuration that differentiates, for non-Internet Protocol (IP)-type communications, types of bearer paths between the MTC device and the ePC network;
• receive an attach request from the MTC device;
• retrieve, based on the attach request, the subscriber profile;
• determine if the subscriber profile indicates an APN configuration for a non-IP bearer;
• and
• when the subscriber profile indicates an APN configuration for a non-IP bearer, identify in the subscriber profile an MTC-ePC delivery mechanism between the MTC device and the ePC network, wherein the MTC-ePC delivery mechanism includes one of a user plane and a control plane.