Techniques for transmitting random access signaling for system access are described. In an aspect, random access signaling may be sent based on at least one transmission parameter having different values for different user equipment (UE) classes. At least one parameter value may be determined based on a particular UE class, and the random access signaling may be sent based on the determined parameter value(s). The random access signaling may be a random access preamble, and the at least one transmission parameter may include a target SNR, a backoff time, and/or a power ramp. The random access preamble may then be sent based on a target SNR value, a power ramp value, and/or a backoff time value for the particular UE class. In another aspect, a message for system access may be sent based on a power control correction received in a random access response for the random access preamble.