A method, performed by a first mobility management entity (MME) device in a network, includes receiving, from a second MME device, standby database information associated with user equipment (UE) registered with the second MME device; detecting that the second MME device has failed or lost connectivity; designating that the UEs registered with the second MME device will be registered with the first MME device, in response to detecting that the second MME device has failed or lost connectivity; detecting a request to activate a particular UE registered with the second MME device; and paging the particular UE to register with the first MME device, using the standby database information and in response to detecting the request to activate the particular UE.