Patent ID: 8565837

Claim:
A method for providing pre-pay hands-free calling (HFC) services to a subscriber of a telematics service provider (TSP) through a telematics unit over a network, the method comprising: receiving, at a service provider, from the telematics unit over the network, at least one of an outgoing call request and an incoming, call request; determining, at the service provider, whether the user of the telematics unit is connected to one of a home network and a visited network; determining, at the service provider, an account balance of the subscriber's account; sending, to the telematics unit over the network, authorization to connect a call between a user of the telematics unit and another party, if the account balance of the subscriber's account is greater than a predetermined threshold amount; monitoring, at the service provider while the call is connected, whether the account balance of the subscriber's account is sufficient to continue to the call; and sending, to the telematics unit over the network, a command to terminate the call if a condition from a group of conditions is satisfied, the group consisting of: the service provider receives an end call request from the telematics unit indicating at least one of the user and the another party has requested the call be terminated, at least one of the user and the another party disconnects from the call, and the account balance of the subscriber's account is insufficient to continue the call; wherein the account balance of the subscriber's account and the predetermined threshold amount are measured in at least one of units of time and units of currency; wherein the predetermined threshold amount is based on whether the user of the telematics unit is connected to one of a home network and a visited network; and wherein the monitoring comprises: deducting, at the service provider, at regular intervals while the call is connected, a predetermined amount from the account balance of the subscriber's account to update the account balance of the subscriber's account, wherein the predetermined amount corresponds to the length of the interval, and comparing the account balance of the subscriber's account after the deduction to the predetermined threshold amount.