Techniques are disclosed relating to determining whether to bar a public land mobile network (PLMN). In some embodiments, a mobile device is configured to increment a count of failed requests to a PLMN for requests that are explicitly rejected by a base station and not for other requests. In some embodiments, the mobile device is configured to bar the PLMN in response to the count reaching a threshold value. In some embodiments, for requests that fail without explicit rejection, the mobile device is configured to wait a predetermined time interval before transmitting another request to the base station. The time interval may be telescoped for subsequent requests that fail without a rejection. In various embodiments, the disclosed techniques may reduce power consumption while avoiding premature PLMN barring.