Systems for Providing Wireless Account Feature Notifications to Mobile Communication Devices

A method, comprising:

• receiving a request from a first communication device to initiate communication with a second communication device over a wireless network, wherein the request identifies a network service to be provided to the first communications device, a first user account associated with the first communication device, and a second user account associated with the second communication device;
• determining, by a processor, based on the received request, whether the first user account and the second user account are members of a predefined affinity group of user accounts associated with communication devices, wherein the user accounts of members of the predefined affinity group are not charged for airtime for communications between the communication devices associated with the members of the predefined affinity group;
• responsive to determining that the first user account and the second user account are members of the predefined affinity group, determining, by the processor, whether an account feature applies to the network;
• and
• responsive to determining that the account feature applies to the network service, transmitting an account feature indication to the first communication device.

A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• determining whether a user account feature is applicable to a network service provided to a wireless communications device, wherein the network service comprises a data communication, and the user account feature comprises free use of airtime for data communications between communication devices associated with user accounts belonging to an affinity group, the determining including:
• searching an address book for an entry corresponding to the data communication;
• and
• responsive to finding the entry corresponding to the data communication, checking an affinity group flag of the entry to determine whether the data communication is between communication devices associated with user accounts belonging to the affinity group;
• and
• responsive to determining that the data communication is between communication devices associated with user accounts belonging to the affinity group, communicating a feature indication, prior to the data communication being established, for notifying a user of the wireless communication device that the user account feature applies to the network service provided to the wireless communications device.