Patent ID: 7720464

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, on a authentication server connected to a network, an authentication request from a wireless device, wherein the network uses a first access protocol having a plurality of access categories and the wireless device uses a second access protocol, the authentication request including one of the plurality of access categories to be assigned and user identification data of the wireless device; verifying the wireless device is authorized to communicate at the one of the plurality of access categories; and communicating, when the wireless device is verified as authorized, a response to a second network arrangement that indicates the one of the plurality of access categories to be used for communications with the wireless device, wherein the second network arrangement is one of a wireless switch, an access point and an access port, wherein the plurality of access categories includes one of a voice category, a video category, a best effort category and a background category, and the response further includes at least one quality-of-service attribute to be assigned to the device.