Method and system for detecting a change in at least one telecommunication service rate plan

In a network for providing telecommunication service to a plurality of network subscribers, a method of detecting a change in at least one rate plan used to generate a billing record for at least one of the plurality of subscribers using an automated calling station, wherein the automated calling station includes a plurality of telephone lines, each telephone line having an assigned carrier and at least one of the telephone lines having an assigned optional calling plan, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a call schedule, the call schedule including a plurality of sample calls to be made by an automated calling station, and further including a call destination, a call time and a call duration for each of the plurality of sample calls;
• placing the plurality of sample calls automatically on the network using the automated calling station, at least one of the plurality of sample calls being completed;
• receiving a printed billing record corresponding to the at least one completed sample call;
• optically scanning the printed billing record to obtain a plurality of electronic image data;
• generating a preliminary billing in electronic form by performing character recognition on the electronic image data record, the preliminary billing record including a toll amount, the call destination, the call time and the call duration;
• processing the preliminary billing record to form at least one final billing record by appending the carrier, the call mileage, the originating LATA and the terminating LATA for the at least one completed sample call;
• receiving the at least one final billing record;
• comparing the toll amount to a previous toll amount;
• and
• detecting a change in the at least one rate plan based on the comparison if the toll amount differs from the previous toll amount.

In a network for providing telecommunication service to a plurality of network subscribers, a system for detecting a change in at least one rate plan used to generate a billing record for at least one of the plurality of subscribers, the system comprising:

• an call schedule interface unit for receiving a call schedule, the call schedule including a plurality of sample calls to be made by an automated calling station;
• an automated calling station, coupled to the network and to the call scheduler, for placing the plurality of sample calls automatically on the network using the automated calling station, at least one of the plurality of sample calls being completed;
• and
• a processor, for receiving at least one final billing record corresponding to the at least one completed sample call, the final billing record including call data for the at least one completed sample call, the call data including billed cost data for comparing the billed cost data to previous cost data, and for detecting a change in the at least one rate plan based on the comparison of the billed cost data to the previous cost data.