Method of unified control of random access and traffic ingress in a congested radio access network

Application category-level access control for random access and traffic ingress using a joint control signal. The joint control signal may include application category access controls as well as an indication of applicability, which may indicate the connection states for which the access controls apply. The indication of applicability may also indicate the cause of access control. The indication of applicability may apply to all application category access controls, groups of application category access controls, or there may be separate indication of applicability for each application category access control. Resources may be conserved by using a single set of application category access controls for UEs in multiple connection states. The joint access controls may be transmitted to the UEs using signals such as SIBs.