Patent ID: 8718599

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving by a notification device a request for a communication between a calling device and a called device via a telecommunications network; determining with the notification device a service provider and a service plan associated with the calling device and a service provider and a service plan associated with the called device by automatically querying a billing database; determining with the notification device, when the service providers associated with each device are different: based on a number of time units available for the communication not exceeding a predetermined threshold that the service plans do not impose a monetary surcharge, based on the number of time units available for the communication exceeding the predetermined threshold that the service plans impose a monetary surcharge, and whether the service plans indicate that the service providers have selected to provide a surcharge rate when the number of time units available for the communication exceeds the predetermined threshold; transmitting by the notification device a surcharge notification to at least one of the calling device or the called device that causes at least one of the calling device or the called device to display a surcharge indicator, the surcharge indicator indicating that the monetary surcharge has been imposed when the number of time units available for the communication exceeds the predetermined threshold, the surcharge indicator including the surcharge rate when the service plans indicate that the service providers have selected to provide the surcharge rate; receiving an indication in response to the surcharge notification from the called device to accept the communication; and establishing the communication between the calling device and the called device after receiving the indication.