A processing device and associated method are provided for receiving a connection request from an application running as a background process on a wireless communication device, and determining whether one or more random access procedure criteria of a random access procedure is met. The random access procedure establishes a communication connection of the wireless communication device for the connection request. In response to the determination that the one or more random access procedure criteria is met, at least one aspect of the random access procedure is restricted, utilizing one or more processors. Further, the random access procedure is performed with a restriction of the at least one aspect to establish the communication connection for the connection request.