Patent ID: 8817661

Claim:
A method of operating a communications network including a plurality of areas divided into at least a first and second subnet, the method comprising: broadcasting, from a network element, at least one grouping message causing an access terminal (AT) in the communications network to regard the at least first and second subnets as both being members of a same subnet group; broadcasting from the network element to the AT location information and a maximum distance parameter associated with at least one area from among the plurality of areas, the grouping message and the maximum distance parameter being configured to create a buffer zone along a border between the first and second subnets, the AT being prevented from sending a subnet identifier request message and prevented from sending a location update message when the AT travels such that an origin area of the AT is an area of the first subnet in the buffer zone, a visited area of the AT is an area within both the second subnet and the buffer zone, and a traveled distance of the AT is less than a distance indicated by the maximum distance value, the traveled distance being a distance between the origin area and the visited area, the origin area of the AT being an area the AT was attached to when a last location update was sent, from among the plurality of areas the visited area being an area the AT is currently attached to, from among the plurality of areas.