A mechanism is provided whereby a parent, or other second party, can monitor and/or control a child's or other first party's wireless device usage. An interface can allow the parent to set rules for the child's usage, and can specify that the parent should receive messages when a call is made to or from the child's wireless device. In addition to call information, the message may prompt the parent for approval of the call connection. Thus, a parent can decide whether a call that is incoming from or outgoing to a third party should be permitted.

A third-party data balance transfer system enables a user of a wireless service network to transfer a data balance to another user of the wireless service network. For example, a third-party data balance transfer system may provide an interface to receive a request from a donor to transfer a data balance to a recipient. A third-party data balance transfer system may verify that the donor is eligible to transfer a data balance, and that the recipient is eligible to receive data. The third-party data balance transfer system may forward a message to the recipient when the eligibility of the donor and recipient are verified. The message may include instructions that direct the recipient to perform certain actions to activate the transfer a data balance. The third-party data balance transfer system may detect when the recipient performs the actions, and the third-party data balance transfer system may update account records for the wireless service network to enable the recipient to access the data balance transfer.

A third-party data balance transfer system enables a user of a wireless service network to transfer a data balance to another user of the wireless service network. For example, a third-party data balance transfer system may provide an interface to receive a request from a donor to transfer a data balance to a recipient. A third-party data balance transfer system may verify that the donor is eligible to transfer a data balance, and that the recipient is eligible to receive data. The third-party data balance transfer system may forward a message to the recipient when the eligibility of the donor and recipient are verified. The message may include instructions that direct the recipient to perform certain actions to activate the transfer a data balance. The third-party data balance transfer system may detect when the recipient performs the actions, and the third-party data balance transfer system may update account records for the wireless service network to enable the recipient to access the data balance transfer.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to telecommunications networks, processing and routing calls between networks, a computing system and methodologies for optimizing pricing particularly in situations with massive amounts of data, processing call volume data, deseasonalizing data, minutes of use data, establishing and distributing pricing data for use in routing decisions, among other features and advantages.

A telecommunications method for call forwarding including storing information regarding a called party in at least one local database, where the information regarding the called party is stored in a user account and making a telephone call by dialing a telephone number with a telephone, where the telephone is contained in a telephone management system. The method also includes determining whether the telephone number is associated with the user account and transferring, via the switchboard, the call to the called party if the telephone number is associated with the user account, where the telephone management system is in communication with a revenue management system, and also where the revenue management system contains at least one local database.

A method may include determining a number of user devices that can access data services in a wireless network and storing information identifying the determined number of user devices for each of a number of sectors for each of a number of periods of time. The method may also include receiving a request from a first user device associated with a first user for access to data services during a first period of time, accessing the stored information to determine whether to grant the request and providing access to data services via the wireless network to the first user device. The method may further include excluding data usage by the first user device during the first period of time from being applied against a data limit associated with the user's data plan.

A process and apparatus to facilitate communication between callers and callees in a system comprising a plurality of nodes with which callers and callees are associated is disclosed. In response to initiation of a call by a calling subscriber, a caller identifier and a callee identifier are received. Call classification criteria associated with the caller identifier are used to classify the call as a public network call or a private network call. A routing message identifying an address, on the private network, associated with the callee is produced when the call is classified as a private network call and a routing message identifying a gateway to the public network is produced when the call is classified as a public network call.

A mobile device data allocation system includes a plurality of mobile devices that exchange data with a data service provider via a communication network. The data exchanged by each mobile device during a time period defines a total amount of exchanged data. An electronic shared-account device module is configured to determine a maximum amount of data at which the mobile devices are authorized to exchange during the time period. The shared-account device module further generates a control signal that regulates data exchange of the at least one mobile device in response to determining an upcoming event indicating the total amount of exchanged data will exceed the maximum amount of data.

A mobile device data allocation system includes a plurality of mobile devices that exchange data with a data service provider via a communication network. The data exchanged by each mobile device during a time period defines a total amount of exchanged data. An electronic shared-account device module is configured to determine a maximum amount of data at which the mobile devices are authorized to exchange during the time period. The shared-account device module further generates a control signal that regulates data exchange of the at least one mobile device in response to determining an upcoming event indicating the total amount of exchanged data will exceed the maximum amount of data.

A process and apparatus to facilitate communication between callers and callees in a system comprising a plurality of nodes with which callers and callees are associated is disclosed. In response to initiation of a call by a calling subscriber, a caller identifier and a callee identifier are received. Call classification criteria associated with the caller identifier are used to classify the call as a public network call or a private network call. A routing message identifying an address, on the private network, associated with the callee is produced when the call is classified as a private network call and a routing message identifying a gateway to the public network is produced when the call is classified as a public network call.