Differentiated service in a federation-based access network is provided by receiving, with a request for access to a wireless network offering at least a two different service levels based on user identities, a set of user credentials from a User Equipment (UE); forwarding, for authentication, the set of user credentials to an identity provider in an identity federation with the wireless network, wherein the identity provider is independent from the wireless network; in response to determining that the set of user credentials indicate a realm known to be associated with a given service level, providing network access to the UE according to the given service level; and in response to determining that the given service level is not a highest service level in the wireless network, transmitting a list of preferred realms to the UE that are associated with higher service levels than the given service level.