An apparatus comprising: network ports; a processor coupled to the network ports and a memory; and the memory having instructions stored thereon, wherein execution of the instructions, cause the processor to: in response to receiving, at one of the network ports, one or more first inbound traffic associated with a first flow from a computing device, the one or more first inbound traffic being determined to have a voice or a video component, i) classify each of the one or more first inbound traffic with an initial high QoS (Quality of Service) PHB (Per-Hop Behavior) marking and ii) transmit to a network device in the network the one or more first inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings; and initiate authentication of the first flow as being a preferential flow, wherein, in response to receiving, during the authentication process, one or more subsequent inbound traffic associated with the first flow from the computing device, i) classify the one or more subsequent inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings and ii) transmit to the network device the one or more subsequent inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings. network ports; a processor coupled to the network ports and a memory; and the memory having instructions stored thereon, wherein execution of the instructions, cause the processor to: in response to receiving, at one of the network ports, one or more first inbound traffic associated with a first flow from a computing device, the one or more first inbound traffic being determined to have a voice or a video component, i) classify each of the one or more first inbound traffic with an initial high QoS (Quality of Service) PHB (Per-Hop Behavior) marking and ii) transmit to a network device in the network the one or more first inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings; and initiate authentication of the first flow as being a preferential flow, wherein, in response to receiving, during the authentication process, one or more subsequent inbound traffic associated with the first flow from the computing device, i) classify the one or more subsequent inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings and ii) transmit to the network device the one or more subsequent inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings. in response to receiving, at one of the network ports, one or more first inbound traffic associated with a first flow from a computing device, the one or more first inbound traffic being determined to have a voice or a video component, i) classify each of the one or more first inbound traffic with an initial high QoS (Quality of Service) PHB (Per-Hop Behavior) marking and ii) transmit to a network device in the network the one or more first inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings; and initiate authentication of the first flow as being a preferential flow, wherein, in response to receiving, during the authentication process, one or more subsequent inbound traffic associated with the first flow from the computing device, i) classify the one or more subsequent inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings and ii) transmit to the network device the one or more subsequent inbound traffic with the initial high QoS PHB markings. <EOS>