Mechanism for wireless access networks to throttle traffic during congestion

An non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer executable instructions encoded therein, said computer readable instructions adapted to be executed to implement a method comprising:

• receiving a request from a core network component to provide an additional connection to a mobile communications device that has one or more existing connections to the radio access network;
• determining that at least a portion of the radio access network is in an overload condition;
• and
• sending a message to the core network component, wherein the message comprises a time value that specifies an amount of time required before the mobile communications device can initiate another request for network resources.

A communications device comprising:

• a processor configured to
• generate, while having one or more connections to a radio access network, a first request to a core network for an additional connection to the radio access network,
• initialize a timer to a time value received in a response to the first request, wherein the time value specifies an amount of time required before the mobile communications device can initiate another request for network resources, and
• store a priority level under congestion control indicator received in the response to the first request;
• and
• a memory component associated with the processor for storing the time value of the timer and the priority level under congestion control indicator.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a processor configured to
• compare a priority level of a new connection requested by a mobile communications device that has at least one existing connection in one of one or more radio access networks to a priority level for connections in a set of one or more existing connections in the one of the one or more radio access networks,
• determine at least one difference between the priority level of the new connection requested and the priority level of the connections of the set of the one or more existing connections, and
• generate a message based on an outcome of the comparison, wherein the message comprises a time value that specifies an amount of time required before the mobile communications device can initiate another request for network resources.