In some embodiments a method comprises receiving, in a WiMAX Signaling forwarding function (SFF) node, a preregistration request for a mobile station, in response to the preregistration request, generating a flag to indicate whether the request is being processed by the WiMAX Signaling forwarding function node, and forwarding a preattachment request from the WiMAX Signaling forwarding function node to an access gateway, wherein the preattachment request comprises the flag. Other embodiments may be described.