In a radio telecommunications network, a serving gateway support node controls connections between user equipment nodes and a packet-based network that pass through at least one serving gateway and at least one packet gateway. The serving gateway support node detects that a serving gateway has failed. The serving gateway support node maintains a connection corresponding to the failed serving gateway. The serving gateway support node receives a General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol (GTP) message from the serving gateway, and detects a restart of the serving gateway based on a restart counter value included in the GTP message. After detecting the restart, the serving gateway support node restores the connection to the serving gateway. Related methods, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable media are also disclosed.