초록 ▼

Allowing a separate system owned by a service provider to access telephone terminals of consumers to determine the calling patterns of each consumer, utilize service plan information of different network carriers, automatically change the network carriers used by an individual consumer to more close

Allowing a separate system owned by a service provider to access telephone terminals of consumers to determine the calling patterns of each consumer, utilize service plan information of different network carriers, automatically change the network carriers used by an individual consumer to more closely match the calling patterns of the consumer and the plan incentives, and to store information in the telephone terminal so that calling information is provided to the individual consumer in accordance with the service plan of the selected network carrier. The information stored in the telephone terminal of the consumer causes that telephone terminal to alert the consumer to special times during which the consumer should make telephone calls. In addition, the telephone terminal will warn the consumer upon the consumer attempting to place a call if there is a more advantageous time to place the call within some predefined time period.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method of selecting a network carrier for a plurality of telephone terminals, comprising the steps of:receiving a new one of a plurality of service plans from one of a plurality network carriers;accessing each of the plurality of telephone terminals to obtain a database

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method of selecting a network carrier for a plurality of telephone terminals, comprising the steps of:receiving a new one of a plurality of service plans from one of a plurality network carriers;accessing each of the plurality of telephone terminals to obtain a database defining calling patterns and telephone call costs for a predefined time for each of the plurality of telephone terminals;calculating for each of the plurality of telephone terminals a difference in cost between actual call costs and projected call cost using the new one of the plurality of service plans based on accessed calling patterns;determining for each of the plurality of telephone terminals if the difference indicates that the new one of the plurality of service plans cost less; andselecting the new one of the plurality of service plans for each one of the plurality of telephone terminals for which the new one of the plurality of service plans costs less.