Patent ID: 8345646

Claim:
An access terminal, comprising: electronics configured to perform signal acquisition from a data system upon initial power up of the access terminal; electronics configured to delay, after initial power up, transmission of a request to the data system to assign an access terminal identifier (ATI) to the access terminal until after a user of the access terminal has employed the access terminal to request a packet data service from the data system; electronics configured to wirelessly send to the data system the ATI assignment request only after a user of the access terminal has employed the access terminal to request the packet data service from the data system; electronics configured to open a data session on the data system, opening the data session including receiving from the data system an ATI assigned to the access terminal by the data system; electronics configured to establish a packet data connection over which the access terminal can receive packet data services from the data system; electronics configured to re-set a timer each time that a data transfer over the packet data connection that is initiated by a request for any of the packet data services is completed; and electronics configured to make a determination whether to close the data session based at least partially on a time specified by the timer; wherein the electronics configured to delay transmission of the request delay delays a data session until the user of the access terminal has employed the access terminal to request the packet data service from the data system, the access terminal being configured not to establish a packet data connection with the data system until the data session is opened, wherein opening the data session includes sending the request to the data system; establishing the packet data connection includes establishing a Point to Point Protocol (PPP) connection between the access terminal and an entity in the data system, and wherein the electronics configured to make the determination whether to close the data session determines to close the data session in response to a time since the Point to Point Protocol (PPP) connection being established exceeding a first threshold and also in response to the time specified by the timer exceeding a threshold.