Disclosed is a method and system of selecting a quality of service (QoS) level for a bearer. According to the disclosure, a network controller may track a level of congestion of a base station and report that congestion information to a policy server. Thereafter, the policy server may receive a message indicating that a new bearer is needed for a communication session with a user equipment device (UE) being served by the base station. In response, the policy server may select a QoS level for the new bearer based at least in part on the based station's level of congestion (and also perhaps based on a type of the communication session), and the policy server may then invoke use of the selected QoS level for the new bearer.