A method and apparatus for maintaining a connection between a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) and a blanket wireless local area network (BWLAN) are described. An inter-working function (IWF) entity in a given network access point (NAP) of the BWLAN maintains lists of WTRUs in respective states. Furthermore, the given NAP maintains a list of neighbor NAPs, and operates in accordance with a selected WTRU mobility protocol. The states may include a “not aware” (NA) state in which the given NAP is actually not aware of a particular WTRU, an “active transmit” (AT) state in which the given NAP is actively transmitting to a particular WTRU, and a “neighbor range” (NR) state for WTRUs indicated in an update report from neighbor (URN) message that the given NAP was not aware of. The WTRU mobility protocol may be a push mobility protocol or a poll mobility protocol.