A wireless communication device comprises a processing system, a memory system, and a wireless communication transceiver. The processing system is configured to maintain device status information in the memory system of the wireless communication device, encode the device status information to generate an update status message in a bitstream protocol, and detect a condition of the wireless communication device which could impede a connection with a wireless access node. The wireless communication transceiver is configured to, in response to the processing system detecting the condition of the wireless communication device, transmit the update status message before the connection with the wireless access node is lost.