Methods for providing overdraft protection for post-paid communication service plans

摘要

Methods for adding minutes to a calling plan having a calling plan period. The methods including determining whether a threshold number of minutes have been reached during the calling plan period; and incrementally adding minutes to the calling plan when the threshold number of minutes has been reached. The cost per minute of the added minutes is less than the high-cost per minute rate normally associated with exceeding the threshold number of minutes during the calling plan period.

主权项

1. A method, for providing overdraft protection in connection with a communications account, comprising:
receiving, by a server having a processor, a user instruction to add data blocks to a present data plan period of the communications account by a mechanism selected from a group consisting of:
borrowing additional data blocks from a future data plan period; andcharging a first predetermined cost per additional data block for additional data blocks; adjusting, by the server, in response to receiving the user instruction, the communications account to add additional data blocks to the communications account, including adjusting the communications account to add the additional data blocks in predetermined first size increments; and charging, if the user instruction indicates that the user would like to be charged the first predetermined cost per additional data block for additional data blocks, a user fee corresponding to the first predetermined cost per additional data block.