Replenishment of pre-paid wireless telephone accounts using short message service (SMS)

An apparatus for replenishing a pre-paid telecommunications account, said apparatus comprising:

• a) a mobile unit having means for sending and receiving SMS messages;
• b) a pre-paid payment server having means for sending and receiving SMS messages;
• c) means for validating a replenishment request received as an SMS message;
• and
• d) means for replenishing the account in response to a validated replenishment request received as an SMS message;
• e) means for monitoring an account database;
• f) means for determining when the subscriber account is due for replenishment;
• and
• g) means for sending an SMS message to the mobile unit indicating that the account is due for replenishment and indicating the account balance;
• h) means for automatically generating a confirmation message at the mobile unit;
• and
• i) means for automatically sending the confirmation message to the pre-paid payment server via SMS, wherein
• the replenishment request includes a requested replenishment amount and
• said means for validating includes means for determining whether the account associated with the mobile unit has sufficient funds/credit to disburse the requested replenishment amount.