Patent ID: 8095475

Claim:
A prepay account management system for use with a legacy post-pay billing system, the legacy post-pay billing system having a customer account database operable to store customer account data the system, and the prepay account management system comprising: a prepay account database operable to store prepay customer account data and estimated usage charges for each prepay customer; a secure data link operable to transmit the prepay customer account data and actual usage charges of a prepay customer between the prepay account management system and the legacy post-pay billing system, wherein the actual usage charges of the prepay customer are extracted from the legacy post-pay billing system; a prepay server operable to: receive the transmitted prepay customer account data and actual usage charges, the prepay server having at least one interface that is operable to receive a replenishing payment amount; update in the prepay account database a balance of a prepay customer account in response to the estimated usage charges and the replenishing payment amount; reconcile a balance of a prepay customer account with the actual usage charges of the prepay customer extracted from the legacy post-pay billing system by comparing the estimated usage charges with the actual usage charges; and a notification server operable to deliver a notification to the prepay customer in response to specific triggers associated with the prepay customer account according to prepay customer preferences.