Method and apparatus for supporting a reduced resource dormant state for packet data

The present embodiments address the need for a reduced resource dormant state for packet data systems that substantially provides the benefits of current dormant mode operation but without the resource maintenance costs. After a period of MS session inactivity, PCF resources, certain PDSN resources, and the PCF-PDSN tunnel are released in order to enter a new reduced resource dormant state. When data arrives for a reduced-resource-dormant MS, PDSN-initiated messaging is used to trigger the re-establish PCF resources, a PDSN-PCF tunnel connection, and released PDSN resources.