Change of equal access carrier notification
First Claim
1. A method of notifying a customer of a change of preferred toll carrier, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a toll call request from said customer;
testing whether a recent request for a change of preferred toll carrier has been made for said customer; and
if the recent request for a change has been made, returning an indication of said recent request including an identity of the preferred toll carrier to said customer.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An arrangement for routing the possibility of switching telephone users to another preferred carrier without the intent of the telephone user. When a record has been made in a data base indicating a change of preferred carrier, the telephone user is provided with an announcement indicating the change when the user makes a toll call. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention the user simply is informed and if the user wants to undo the change the user contacts the local carrier. In accordance with another embodiment the user is provided with a validation code and must enter the validation code in order to effect the change of carriers. In accordance with another embodiment the user is provided with a number of options including the keying of a request to effect the change of carrier, or cancel the change of carrier. Advantageously, users are informed of a change of carrier before they make any calls using the new carrier and before they receive any telephone bills identifying the change.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method of notifying a customer of a change of preferred toll carrier, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a toll call request from said customer; testing whether a recent request for a change of preferred toll carrier has been made for said customer; and if the recent request for a change has been made, returning an indication of said recent request including an identity of the preferred toll carrier to said customer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of notifying a customer of a change of service provider or service, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a telephone service request from said customer; testing whether a recent request for a change of service or service provider has been made for said customer; if the recent request for such a change has been made, returning an indication of said recent request, including an identity of the service provider to said customer, wherein data for a validation of the request for a change is supplied to said customer prior to returning the indication of said request; responsive to receiving said indication of said request, returning an indication of validation from said customer; and returning the indication of said request only if the step returning the indication of validation has not been previously performed by said customer.
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Specification