A method at a user equipment capable of supporting at least two radio connections, the method including requesting from a remote server, using a first radio connection, a subscriber identity; receiving, at the user equipment, the subscriber identity over the first radio connection; using the subscriber identity to establish a second radio connection; and forcing the first radio connection to remain on a same network as the second radio connection. Further, a method at a user equipment capable of supporting at least two radio connections, the method receiving a subscriber authentication challenge over the second network connection; using the first radio connection to connect to the remote server to obtain an authentication challenge response for the subscriber authentication challenge; and sending the authentication challenge response over the second network connection.