Unified mobility switches often define a virtual LAN (VLAN), including a combination of mobility tunnels and access tunnels, via which packets are transported to a mobile device over a combination of physical connections and wireless links. A unified switch may have multiple ports available to route a packet to a particular destination, since the unified switches identify routing paths for both physical connections and VLANs. A particular unified switch may therefore have multiple routes to a common destination, which can lead to a routing loop across a network of switches supporting both physical and virtual connections. A unified mobility switch provides loop detection and prevention through a set of rules for qualifying connections as virtual tunnels or physical connections, and defining a single path where multiple potential paths exist.