This disclosure relates to techniques for dynamically changing coverage modes and/or communication bandwidth in a wireless communication system. According to some embodiments, a wireless device may attach to a serving cell associated with a cellular network. A volume of data for upcoming communication with the cellular network may be determined. An indication of a requested communication bandwidth may be provided to the serving cell. The wireless device may communicate data with the serving cell using the requested communication bandwidth. In some instances, a request for narrowband communication bandwidth may result in use of a coverage enhancement mode, while a request for wideband communication bandwidth may result in use of a normal coverage mode.