A wireless access node provides a wireless communication service to a plurality of wireless communication devices over a first frequency band class, where a set of the wireless communication devices are currently in idle mode. A node control system detects a condition for the first frequency band class, and in response, transitions a subset of the wireless communication devices that are currently in idle mode to a second frequency band class. The wireless access node then provides the wireless communication service to the subset of the wireless communication devices over the second frequency band class.