Patent ID: 7155204

Claim:
A method for billing wireless telephone calls, comprising: collecting a dialed telephone number from a wireless telephone station; determining whether the telephone number is associated with a party who agrees to pay an airtime charge for a call from the wireless telephone station regardless of the wireless telephone station, thereby making an airtime charge payment responsibility determination without regard to the wireless telephone station, wherein the determining step further comprises: accessing a database comprised of a plurality of telephone numbers with associated data bits, said data bits indicating whether a provider associated with the telephone number agrees to pay an airtime charge for a call from a wireless telephone station; and identifying whether the telephone number is associated with a party who agrees to pay an airtime charge for a call from a wireless telephone station, provided said data bit is a predetermined value; informing a wireless user of the wireless telephone station of the determination; and connecting the wireless user to a telephone station associated with the dialed telephone number to obtain a connection.