Patent ID: 7660754

Claim:
A method of processing reports of malfunctions received by a network service company having a dispatch division and a billing division, the method comprising: receiving reports from a customer of malfunctions and a request for a network evaluation; dispatching a technician in response to the reports; receiving, via a communications network, information sent by the technician upon diagnosing a malfunction at a first subscriber location having a first line number, wherein the information is provided in an electronic format and when analyzed indicates a cause of the malfunction underlying one of the reports of malfunctions sent from a vicinity of the first subscriber location and wherein the cause is at a location other than the first subscriber location, wherein the cost associated with the technician at the first location is recorded in association with the first line number, and wherein the identified cause indicates a range of line numbers that are affected including the first line number; determining, by the dispatch division and based upon the information sent by the technician upon diagnosing the malfunction at the first subscriber location, that a cause underlying another one of the reports of malfunctions, received from a location different from the vicinity of the first subscriber location and having a second line number, is the same cause identified as underlying the report of malfunction at the first subscriber location due to the second line number being within the range of line numbers that are affected; identifying, by the company, an entity other than a first subscriber of the first subscriber location that is responsible for the cause; and utilizing the information, by the billing division, to generate a bill to the entity other than the first subscriber that includes costs incurred at least for diagnosing the malfunction at the first subscriber location by looking up the range of line numbers associated with the cause for which the entity is responsible, finding that the first line number falls within the range, looking up the costs incurred for the first line number, and including the costs incurred for the first line number on the bill to the entity.