Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods that allocate bandwidth to a mobile device based on the quantity of dormancy transitions performed by the mobile device. In a particular embodiment, an access node exchanges communications with a mobile device over a wireless link during an initial period of time. A control system determines the quantity of dormancy transitions by the mobile device during the initial period of time. After the initial period of time, the control system receives an access request from the mobile device to access the wireless link. The control system determines a bandwidth allocation on the wireless link for the mobile device based on the quantity of transitions that occurred during the initial period of time. The access node can then exchange data communications with the mobile device over the wireless link based on the bandwidth allocation.