The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for assigning a channel in response to a request for service for a mobile station in a wireless communication network serving a plurality of regions, such as cells in a digital cellular network. The mobile station may be located in one of the plurality of regions. The method comprises determining a first indication of congestion on a forward access channel and a second indication of congestion on a random access channel and assigning at least one channel of a plurality of channels to the mobile station based on the determined first and second indications of congestion. Based on the first indication of congestion, a first threshold may be adjusted for the forward access channel and a second threshold may be adjusted based on the second indication of congestion on the random access channel. A service type of the request for service and a condition of wireless communication environment may be determined for transmission of data over the wireless communication network and to decide if a specific signaling connection for the mobile station located in one of plurality of regions shall be established in a particular mobile station state including a cell dedicated channel state and a cell forward access channel state based on the service type and the condition of wireless communication environment. In this manner, signaling requests, such as radio resource control signaling requests may be classified into different service types and different radio frequency environment conditions, providing an efficient packet data transmission in a wireless communication system by deciding which state to use under different scenarios. By including a wireless communication environment condition, such as the current radio frequency environment status in a channel assignment decision making, a signaling connection may not experience an inferior quality and may avoid a delay and occurrences of dropped connections.