The exemplary embodiments provide at least a method of receiving, by a node of a wireless communication network, more than one indication of data required to be sent from devices in the network, determining that provisioning resources to send the data in response to each of the more than one indication exceeds at least one threshold, and based on the determining, sending a probe message including a priority constraint to the devices. Further, receiving, at a device of a wireless communication network, a probe message from a network node of the network, the probe message identifying a priority constraint, sending, by the device, an acknowledgement to the probe message, the acknowledgment indicating that the device has data to send which meets or exceeds the priority constraint identified in the probe message, and in response to the acknowledgment, receiving from the network node a resource allocation to send the data.