A service type announcement element indicates one or more service types offered by an access point (AP) that supports station a wireless network. The service type announcement element is generated by the AP and included in a beacon frame or in a probe response frame. The beacon frame or the probe response frame is transmitted by the AP and received by a mobile device prior to the mobile device being associated with the AP. The mobile device makes a determination whether any of the one or more service types can assist with an operation of an application on the mobile device and implements a network selection algorithm based on the determination.