Methods and apparatus for language registration of prepaid, remote entry customer account

A method for selecting an appropriate language for communicating with a consumer accessing a prepaid telephone system center through any suitably connected calling station worldwide comprising the steps of:

• (a) connecting the prepaid telephone system center to any suitably connected calling station worldwide;
• (b) receiving an initial authorization code from the calling station by the calling party inputting corresponding numbers through the calling station number entry system;
• (c) verifying that said initial authorization code represents a valid account with a prepaid account balance;
• (d) determining by comparing said authorization code with a selected language database whether the consumer has previously selected a preferred language to be used by the prepaid telephone system center when communicating to the consumer;
• (e) communicating to the consumer in said preferred language;
• and
• (f) decreasing the prepaid account balance during the duration of the telephone call.

A computer system for effectuating prepaid telephone calls between a calling party at any location and a destination party comprising:

• an incoming call trunk configured to connect the calling party to said computer system;
• an outgoing call trunk configured to connect said computer system to the destination party;
• an account database configured to store account information associated with an account code used by the calling party;
• a language database configured to store audio indicia including a plurality of languages for communicating to the calling party;
• a reference database configured to store one of said plurality of languages in said language database which is an associated language with the calling party;
• and
• a central processing unit configured to receive said account code from the calling party by the calling party's manual entrance of said account code, use said account code to access said reference database according to said account code to determine said associated language, prompt the calling party in said associated language to enter a number of the destination party, and connect the calling party to the destination party,
• wherein said account information includes a prepaid account balance which is reduced during the duration of a prepaid telephone call.

A computer system comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for selecting an appropriate language for a prepaid telephone system center to communicate with a calling party, the computer readable program code means in said computer system including:

• means for prompting the calling party in a plurality of languages to enter an account code;
• means for receiving said account code by the calling party entering said account code through the telephone keypad and determining if said account code represents a valid prepaid account with a current positive account balance;
• means for using said account code to access a database to determine if the calling party has previously established a preferred language to be used by the prepaid telephone system center when communicating to the calling party;
• means for presenting a plurality of languages available for selection by the calling party as said preferred language;
• means for inputting from the calling party a selection from said plurality of languages;
• means for recording said selection in said database;
• means for communicating to the calling party in said preferred language;
• and
• means for reducing the amount of said positive account balance based on the duration of the communication.