Patent ID: 8285650

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer instructions, that when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method comprising: calculating upstream and downstream data traffic averages associated with customer premises equipment according to predefined measurement intervals, wherein upstream and downstream data traffic is between the customer premises equipment and network elements of a single service provider; generating ratios of average upstream data traffic to average downstream data traffic based on the calculated data traffic averages; calculating a charge for service for a subscriber according to one of a plurality of ranges of asymmetric upstream and downstream data traffic ratios based on the generated ratios, wherein the plurality of ranges of asymmetric upstream and downstream data traffic ratios comprises a first range, a second range and a third range, wherein the first range has a higher ratio of the average upstream data traffic to the average downstream data traffic as compared to the second range, wherein the second range has a higher ratio of the average upstream data traffic to the average downstream data traffic as compared to the third range, wherein each of the plurality of ranges of asymmetric upstream and downstream data traffic ratios has a different price, wherein the first range has a lower price than the second range, and wherein the second range has a lower price than the third range, wherein the charge is calculated by applying the corresponding price of the one of the plurality of ranges to an amount of the upstream data traffic; replacing the calculated charge for service with a minimum charge for service when the minimum charge for service exceeds the calculated charge for service; wherein the minimum charge for service is computed from a product of a maximum billing price for data services of the communication system and a percentage of peak service bandwidth provided to the customer premises equipment.