DEVICED BASED NETWORK STEERING

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, attaching a mobile device to an initial bearer at a base station of a mobility network, monitoring a performance parameter for communication by the mobile device on the initial bearer, requesting, by the mobile device, information about other bearers at the base station of the mobility network, wherein the requesting is responsive to the performance parameter failing to exceed a predetermined performance threshold, receiving at the mobile device, network information about other bearers at the base station of the mobility network, the network information including current capacity information for the other bearers, selecting, by the mobile device, a selected alternative bearer based on the information about other bearers, and communicating, to the mobility network, a user equipment (UE) capabilities message identifying the selected alternative bearer and omitting the initial bearer to change bearers to obtain better communication performance at the mobile device. Other embodiments are disclosed.