WE CLAIM:
1. A mobility management entity (MME) (112) comprising:
Communications circuitry (304) configured to communicate with a plurality of
serving gateways (SGWs) (116) and a plurality of packet data network gateways (PGWs) (120) of an evolved packet core for a wireless Communications network; and management circuitry (308) coupled to the Communications circuitry and configured to:
receive, via the Communications circuitry, a proactive PGW congestion notification from individual PGWs of the plurality of PGWs indicating a level of congestion for respective PGWs;
manage access to the PGWs by a user equipment (UE) (108) of the wireless Communications network based on the received proactive PGW congestion notifications; and
proactively transmit to the UE a notification to indicate high network congestion based on the levels of congestion of the PGWs.
2. The MME as claimed in claim 1, wherein the management circuitry is further configured to receive a proactive SGW congestion notification from individual SGWs (116) of the plurality of SGWs indicating a level of congestion for respective SGWs.
3. The MME as claimed in claim 2, wherein the management circuitry is further configured to receive a packet data network (PDN) request from the UE to establish a PDN connection with one of the plurality of PGWs, and to take an action in response to the request based on the levels of congestion of the plurality of PGWs.
4. The MME as claimed in claim 3, wherein the action includes selecting a first PGW (120) of the plurality of PGWs for the UE to establish the PDN connection with based on the received levels of congestion for the plurality of PGWs.
5. The MME as claimed in claim 4, wherein the action further includes selecting a first SGW (116) of the plurality of SGWs through which to route the PDN connection between the UE and the PGW, the first SGW selected based on the received levels of congestion for the plurality of SGWs.
6. The MME as claimed in claim 4, wherein the PGW is associated with a first SGW of the plurality of SGWs, and the management circuitry is further configured to route the PDN connection through the first SGW.
7. The MME as claimed in claim 3, wherein the action includes sending a notification to the UE that the PDN connection was unsuccessful if there are no PGWs having a low congestion level.

8. The MME as claimed in claim 3, wherein the action includes negotiating
with the UE to terminate or modify an existing PDN connection in exchange for
establishing the requested PDN connection.
9. The MME as claimed in claim 8, wherein the negotiating includes:
transmitting a notification to the UE with an option to terminate or modify an
existing PDN connection in exchange for establishing the requested PDN connection; and
receiving a response to the notification firom the UE.
10. The MME as claimed in claim 9, wherein the notification and the response are transmitted via non access stratum (NAS) signaling.
11. The MME as claimed in claim 1, wherein the level of congestion is a high level indicating congestion is above a first threshold or a low level indicating congestion is below a second threshold.
12. The MME as claimed in claim 1, wherein the level of congestion is one of a plurality of levels indicating high congestion or one of a plurality of levels indicating low congestion.
13. A mobility management entity (MME) comprising:
Communications circuitry (304) configured to communicate with a plurality of
serving gateways (SGWs) (116) and a plurality of packet data network gateways (PGWs) (120) of an evolved packet core for a wireless Communications network; and
management circuitry (308) coupled to the Communications circuitry and configured to:
receive, via the Communications circuitry, a proactive PGW congestion
notification from individual PGWs of the plurality of PGWs indicating a level
of congestion for respective PGWs; and
manage access to the PGWs by a user equipment of the wireless
Communications network based on the received proactive PGW congestion
notifications;
wherein the management circuitry is further configured to receive a packet data network (PDN) request from the UE to establish a PDN connection with one of the plurality of PGWs, and to take an action in response to the request based on the levels of congestion of the plurality of PGWs; and
wherein the management circuitry is further configured to proactively transmit a message to the UE indicating an overall congestion level of a user plane of the wireless Communications network based on the received levels of congestion for the plurality of PGWs.
14. An apparatus to be employed by a user equipment (UE) (108), the
apparatus comprising:

Communications circuitry (204) configured to communicate with an evolved Node B (eNB) (104) over a wireless Communications network; and packet data network (PDN) circuitry (200) configured to:
transmit, to a mobility management entity (MME) (112) of the wireless Communications network, a request for a new PDN connection associated with the eNB;
receive, from the MME (112), a notification giving the UE an option to terminate or modify an existing PDN connection associated with the eNB in exchange for establishing the new PDN connection associated with the eNB; and
send a response, based on the notification, to the MME (112).
15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the request for the new PDN connection is transmitted to the MME via the eNB.
16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the notification is received from the MME via non access stratum (NAS) signaling.
17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the PDN circuitry (208) is further configured to present the option to a user of the apparatus to choose the response.
18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the option to modify the existing PDN connection includes reducing a bandwidth and/or a quality of service required by the existing PDN connection.
19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the response is a negative response, the riew PDN connection is denied, and the apparatus continues to receive the existing PDN connection.
20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the response is a positive response, the new PDN connection is established, and the existing PDN connection is terminated or modified.
21. A UE (108) comprising the apparatus of claim 14, wherein the UE further includes:
one or rhore antennas (220) coupled with the Communications circuitry; and a display (212) coupled with the PDN circuitry.