Patent ID: 8391858

Claim:
A method, performed by a radio access network (RAN) that provides a preferred wireless coverage area to serve wireless communications devices (WCDs), the method comprising: the RAN receiving a first call setup request from a first WCD; the RAN receiving a second call setup request from a second WCD; in response to receiving the first call setup request and the second call setup request, the RAN determining that (i) the first WCD and second WCD are contending for a resource of the preferred wireless coverage area, (ii) the first WCD is likely to begin roaming to a first non-preferred wireless coverage area when the first WCD is not allocated the resource, and (iii) the second WCD is likely to begin roaming to a second non-preferred wireless coverage area when the second WCD is not allocated the resource; in response to determining that (i) the first WCD and second WCD are contending for the resource, (ii) the first WCD is likely to begin roaming to the first non-preferred wireless coverage area when the first WCD is not allocated the resource, and (iii) the second WCD is likely to begin roaming to the second non-preferred wireless coverage area when the second WCD is not allocated the resource, the RAN comparing the first non-preferred wireless coverage area to the second non-preferred wireless coverage area; and based on a result of the comparison, the RAN allocating the resource to the first WCD.