Embodiments of the present disclosure describe techniques and configurations for handling a wait time in a wireless communication network when the network is determined to be congested. An apparatus may include computer-readable media having instructions and one or more processors coupled with the computer-readable media and configured to execute the instructions to send a radio resource control request message to a wireless network controller, receive a response message including an extended wait time value, determine upon receipt of the response message whether a back-off timer associated with the apparatus is running, and determine whether to start the backoff timer with the received extended wait time value based at least in part on the determination of whether the back-off timer is running and the received wait time value is integrity protected.