METHOD OF SELECTING THE MOST COST EFFECTIVE CELLULAR SERVICE PLAN PROVIDED BY CELLULAR TELEPHONE RESELLERS TO MULTI-LINE CUSTOMERS

摘要

A unique cellular telephone billing system (100) processes call detail records (102) of cellular telephone calls made by users of multi-line customers to produce invoices and reports containing consolidated billing, usage and cost information for the current and other eligible cellular service plans. The call detail records (301 and 302) for each user of a multi-line customer include a unique key identification number (311 and 321) and may include an information format (401 and 402) having variable-length sub-fields (411-415 and 421-423). A candidate file (136) is created from the customer detail pool file (112) by including active user records for multiline customers and usage data is accumulated in summary records for each user. Eligible cellular service plans are identified for each user in the candidate file and costs for accumulated usage data are estimated under the current and eligible cellular service plans. The estimated costs for the current and eligible cellular service plans may then be compared to determine the most cost effective service plan for each user on the basis of current average usage or rate plan level usage, account level or market level aggregate average usage. Reports may be generated for each multi-line user illustrating consolidated billing, usage and cost information by sorting on the basis of the corresponding key identification number and information format.