A device and method for controlling communications between a User Equipment (UE) (20) and a base station (BS) (90) in a radio access network (RAN) (16) is provided. The UE (20) indicates to the BS (90) in the RAN (16) that a transceiver at the UE (20) will temporarily suspend communications with the RAN (16). The BS (90) acknowledges the indication from the UE (20) and temporarily suspends communications with the UE (20). Responsive to the acknowledgement from the BS (90), the UE (20) temporarily suspends communications between the transceiver and the RAN (16). The UE (20) then resumes communications between the transceiver and the BS (90) in the RAN (16).