A determination may be made that resources from wireless coverage areas of a radio access network (RAN) are to be assigned to a particular wireless communication device (WCD), and that the particular WCD is configured for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. Possibly in response to making the determination, the RAN may assign resources from a first extent of wireless coverage areas for substantially simultaneous communication between the RAN and the particular WCD. For other WCDs not configured for M2M communication, resources from a second extent of wireless coverage areas may be assigned for substantially simultaneous communication between the RAN and the other WCDs. The first extent may be greater than the second extent.