Management of communication operations of wireless devices is provided. A traffic-control parameter is generated, for example at a base station, indicative of desired aspects of communication operations of the wireless devices. The one or more traffic-control parameters may comprise a delay parameter, such as a maximum value for generating random backoff times, and/or a connection-time parameter, indicative of the maximum length of time a wireless device can hold a connection. A bit sequence indicative of the one or more traffic-control parameters is generated and communicated to the wireless devices. A wireless device determines the traffic-control parameter based on the communicated bit sequence and adapts its operation based thereon.