REDUCING CORE NETWORK TRAFFIC CAUSED BY MIGRANT USERS

A method and apparatus for reducing core network traffic caused by migrant users of a public wireless network are described including receiving a DHCP discover request from a wireless client device, determining if there are enough IP addresses available to assign one of the plurality of IP addresses to the wireless client device, transmitting a DHCP acknowledgement including the assigned IP address and a lease duration to the wireless client device, determining if a lease timeout has occurred, releasing the assigned IP address if the lease timeout has occurred, receiving a first hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request or first hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) request from the wireless client device, transmitting a media access control (MAC) pre-authentication request from the wireless client to an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) server, receiving a MAC pre-authentication response from the AAA server and providing access to the Internet via the wireless client device.