REGISTRATION TIMER ADJUSTMENT BASED ON WIRELESS NETWORK QUALITY

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To limit a registration period of a wireless communication device (WCD) operating in a wireless network, on the basis of network quality.SOLUTION: The WCD performs registration to a network according to a signaling protocol, such as session initiation protocol (SIP). The WCD determines (75) network quality, and adjusts (79) a registration timer on the basis of the determined network quality. When the network quality is poor, for example, the WCD reduces the length of the registration timer. By adjusting the registration timer to a shorter length to register (81) when the network quality is degraded, stale registrations for out-of-coverage WCDs can be expired more quickly, and cleared more quickly. Consequently, the amount of required resources devoted to stale registrations can be reduced. If the WCD attempts to retain network coverage, it can be maintained by sending a new registration request.