Patent ID: 7986936

Claim:
A method for managing bills for a subscriber over a network, where the bills are based on usage of a service and a time period for the availability of the service, the method comprising the steps of: conducting an initial analysis of a subscriber's service usage requirements, wherein the initial analysis is based at least on the subscriber's predicted service usage requirements and the subscriber's historical service usage; creating a report based on the initial analysis of the subscriber's service usage requirements; transmitting the report to the subscriber over the network; selecting at least one service plan to conform to the initial analysis; receiving a subsequent bill from the carrier corresponding to the subscriber's actual service usage and containing an actual billed amount; comparing the subscriber's actual service usage to the initial analysis of the subscriber's service usage requirements to identify differences between the actual usage and the initial analysis; identifying instances in which such differences result in additional or unexpected charges; updating the initial analysis of the subscriber's service usage requirements based at least on the subscriber's actual service usage, on the additional or unexpected charges, and on additional subscriber's predicted service usage requirements; comparing the updated analysis to the initial analysis to determine any differences between the updated analysis and the initial analysis, including whether the differences result in additional or unexpected charges; determining whether a different service plan better conforms to the updated analysis based on the comparison of the updated analysis to the initial analysis; selecting the different service plan when the determination indicates that the different service plan better conforms to the updated analysis; determining an anticipated billed amount based on the actual usage; creating an actual report for the subscriber; comparing the anticipated billed amount to the actual billed amount to identify billing errors in the bill; requesting billing credit from the service provider in the amount of the identified billing errors; and reviewing a further subsequent bill from the service provider to insure that credit was posted to the subscriber account.