Abstract: The exemplary embodiments of the invention provide at least a method and apparatus to receive a connection instruction request from a user equipment; identify a network from which the request was sent; select stored probe values and associated network information that are associated with the identified network; determine connection instructions based at least in part on the stored probe values and the associated network information, in which the connection instructions include a dynamically extended reconnection delay if a determined keep-alive timer for keep-alive instructions would be impractically short; and send the connection instructions to the user equipment. Further, the exemplary embodiments of the invention provide at least a method and apparatus to determine a maximum packet size for which transmission will not trigger a state change for user equipment; and restrict transmissions of background data to or from the user equipment so as not to exceed the maximum packet size.