A method for operation of a first communication device in a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication channel between the first communication device and one or more second communication devices is described for a WLAN communication channel that has a plurality of component channels. A first component channel of the plurality of component channels is designated as a first primary channel and a second component channel of the plurality of component channels is designated as a second primary channel by the first communication device. A backoff timer that corresponds to the second component channel is suspended by the first communication device while utilizing the first component channel and without utilizing the second component channel. The backoff timer is resumed by the first communication device when utilization of the first component channel has completed.