Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate triggering multi-carrier requests at a mobile device and granting or denying the request at the access point. The mobile device can determine when to request additional carriers from the access point based on communication parameters, such as buffer levels, inflow/outflow data rates, PA headroom for handling an additional carrier, a timer for requesting the carrier, a maximum number of allocable carriers, and/or the like. Upon receiving the request, the access point can grant or deny the request based at least in part on subscriber level of the mobile device, available resources in the access point, reverse link throughput, and/or the like. Allocating additional carriers to the mobile device can increase throughput for communicating with the access point.