When a capillary network device connects to user equipment and the user equipment establishes or modifies a bearer to support traffic from the capillary device, the user equipment may request that the network provide some indication that the user equipment will not be charged for the traffic. The network may indicate to the user equipment that the flow is sponsored or that the user equipment will otherwise not be charged for the flow. Existing messages between a UE/GW, P-GW, PCRF, and an application server (AS) may be modified and new messages may be used so that the user equipment can request a guarantee of sponsorship or of non-charging and so that the AS may indicate to the user equipment that the flow is sponsored. The messaging can also be used by user equipment on its own behalf.

Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, systems and/or methods of establishing an Internet connection. For example, a server me perform operations including storing relay account information corresponding to least one relay station to provide Internet access, and client account information of at least one client, the client account information comprising credit information indicating a credit balance of the client; processing a connection request received from a wireless station via the relay station, the connection request to request an Internet connection via the relay station, the connection request comprising a client identifier of the client; sending to the wireless station via the relay station connection establishment information to establish the Internet connection via the relay station; and updating the credit balance based on usage information from the relay station, the usage information indicating a usage of the Internet connection by the wireless station.

In a telecommunication network, a method is carried out for assisting a first user terminal (100.sub.1) in benefiting from a data connectivity. A second user terminal (100.sub.2) indicates (s10), to a connectivity donation server (200), that it is willing to sponsor data connectivity of the first terminal (100.sub.1) and that, restriction(s) are imposed on how the sponsored connectivity can be used. The restriction(s) comprise: i) where the first terminal (100.sub.1) is to be located for benefiting from the sponsored connectivity; and ii) which access network(s) the first terminal (100.sub.1) has to connect to for benefiting from the sponsored connectivity. The connectivity donation server (200) then transmits a token to the second terminal (100.sub.2), which in turn transmits (s30) it to the first terminal (100.sub.1) using proximity-based means. Terminals, network nodes, and computer programs for use in the above method are also disclosed.

The invention relates to a method performed by a network node of managing online charging, and a network node performing the method. In an aspect of the invention, a method performed by a network node of managing online charging of sponsored data connectivity is provided. The method comprises receiving (S101) a user request for service related to the sponsored data connectivity, estimating (S102) a number of users that are expected to use said service, and acquiring (S103), from an Online Charging System authorizing access to the sponsored data connectivity, authorisation for the estimated number of users that are expected to use said service. The method further comprises granting (S104) the user access to the requested service with quota received with the authorisation from said Online Charging System, said quota being valid for a specified time period, and further granting (S104b) any further user requesting (S101b) said service access to the requested service with quota received with the authorisation until total quota authorised by the Online Charging System for the estimated number of users has been apportioned.

A Policy Enforcement Function such as PCEF or TDF is configured to receive from a Policy Controller such as PCRF, over an interface such as Gx or Sd interface, a command related to a User Equipment UE, the command referring to a Sponsoring Context Identifier, Sponsoring Context ID, the Sponsoring Context ID serving as an identifier of a Sponsoring Context to be applied to application-related data traffic to be sponsored for the UE, the Sponsoring Context providing a list of data flows to be sponsored.

A device may receive, from a user device, a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) CONNECT request that includes a uniform resource locator (URL). The device may determine, using a data structure, whether the URL is a sponsored URL or a non-sponsored URL. The data structure may include one or more sponsored URLs associated with a toll-free data service campaign. The device may establish an HTTP CONNECT tunnel for transferring traffic, associated with the URL, between the user device and another device. The device may monitor data use, associated with the HTTP CONNECT tunnel, based on determining whether the URL is a sponsored URL or a non-sponsored URL. The device may generate a traffic information record based on monitoring the data use, and the device may provide the traffic information record to the user device.

A Policy Enforcement Function such as PCEF or TDF is configured to receive from a Policy Controller such as PCRF, over an interface such as Gx or Sd interface, a command related to a User Equipment UE, the command referring to a Sponsoring Context Identifier, Sponsoring Context ID, the Sponsoring Context ID serving as an identifier of a Sponsoring Context to be applied to application-related data traffic to be sponsored for the UE, the Sponsoring Context providing a list of data flows to be sponsored.

The present invention faces the issue of a user ignoring an alternative second service usable instead of a first service that the user is using, and which is a service subscribed by the user. To solve this issue, the present invention provides for associating a first service identifier and a second service identifier with a same service category at a subscription repository; upon detecting at a policy enforcer the first service is used by the user, notifying a policy controller of the first service identifier; obtaining, by the policy controller from the subscription repository, the second service identifier associated with the same service category as the first service identifier; offering the user, either directly from the policy controller or via the policy enforcer, to accept using the second service instead of the used first service; and, upon user accepting to use the second service, enforcing control rules for the second service at the policy enforcer.

The present invention relates to a method, packet data network gateway (PGW), and server in a mobile communication system and device for controlling charging in a mobile communication system. The method by a PGW in a mobile communication system includes identifying data usage information associated with a specific service for a terminal, determining whether the data usage information satisfies a predetermined condition, and transmitting a notification message including the data usage information if the data usage information satisfies the predetermined condition, to a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) entity. The data usage information is used to display a message in the terminal.

An online system determines one or more metrics describing consumption of content by various users by identifying users of the online system capable of being identified based on information received from multiple client devices. For example, the online system identifies users associated with user identifiers that are also associated with other types of identifying information (e.g., cookies, device identifiers). From the identified users, the online system generates a set of users based on a distribution of characteristics. The distribution of characteristics may be determined by the online system as characteristics of a group of users or received by the online system from a third party system and describes characteristics of users of the third party system. Based on interactions with content by users in the set, the online system determines one or more metrics describing consumption of content.