As described herein, various nodes in a 3GPP network, including a user equipment (UE), can be used to insert metadata in uplink traffic so that the network and/or an (S)Gi-LAN can make traffic steering decisions based on the metadata. For example, the UE can insert metadata into its uplink traffic so that the services in the (S)Gi-LAN can be better leveraged. In one embodiment, network nodes are able to insert metadata that relates directly to the UE and that relates to the operating conditions of the network nodes that the UE is using to send uplink data, so that the services in the (S)Gi-LAN can be better leveraged.