A method in a wireless network, the method comprising: receiving an allocation of a radio resource for a plurality of radio transmitters (102a, 102b), wherein the radio resource is configured for simultaneous access by the plurality of transmitters to transmit user data with varying transmission delays; receiving a dedicated message assigning a resource identity, wherein the resource identity comprises a preamble sequence and a position of a preamble sequence within a transmission payload; transmitting a user data burst using the radio resource and the resource identity, wherein user data bursts with varying transmissions delays are simultaneously transmitted over the allocated radio resource with varying resource identities including the resource identity; and the method further comprising: receiving a broadcast of availability of radio resources including the radio resource and associated selection criteria for the plurality of transmitters; selecting one of the radio resources based on the radio resource selection criteria; and assembling a payload with the assigned preamble sequence at the assigned position within the payload; wherein the associated selection criteria are based on an application descriptor that includes at least one of an indication of an expected application packet or a packet session length and a packet or a packet session arrival rate, and wherein the indication may additionally be based on at least one of a mean packet length, variance, or maximum packet length, and the packet or the packet session arrival rate may be based on at least one of a mean arrival rate, a variance of packet arrival rate, or maximum inter-packet arrival time. receiving an allocation of a radio resource for a plurality of radio transmitters (102a, 102b), wherein the radio resource is configured for simultaneous access by the plurality of transmitters to transmit user data with varying transmission delays; receiving a dedicated message assigning a resource identity, wherein the resource identity comprises a preamble sequence and a position of a preamble sequence within a transmission payload; transmitting a user data burst using the radio resource and the resource identity, wherein user data bursts with varying transmissions delays are simultaneously transmitted over the allocated radio resource with varying resource identities including the resource identity; and the method further comprising: receiving a broadcast of availability of radio resources including the radio resource and associated selection criteria for the plurality of transmitters; selecting one of the radio resources based on the radio resource selection criteria; and assembling a payload with the assigned preamble sequence at the assigned position within the payload; receiving a broadcast of availability of radio resources including the radio resource and associated selection criteria for the plurality of transmitters; selecting one of the radio resources based on the radio resource selection criteria; and assembling a payload with the assigned preamble sequence at the assigned position within the payload; wherein the associated selection criteria are based on an application descriptor that includes at least one of an indication of an expected application packet or a packet session length and a packet or a packet session arrival rate, and wherein the indication may additionally be based on at least one of a mean packet length, variance, or maximum packet length, and the packet or the packet session arrival rate may be based on at least one of a mean arrival rate, a variance of packet arrival rate, or maximum inter-packet arrival time.