Unrestricted calling circle for telephone service

A method for providing a discounted calling circle for a subscriber of a telephone service provider, the method comprising:

• receiving selections for members of the subscriber's calling circle, where one or more members of the calling circle have a telephone service provider other than the subscriber's telephone service provider;
• facilitating communications between the subscriber and members of the calling circle;
• a step for providing a discounted calling rate to the subscriber for communications with members of the calling circle;
• and
• disallowing the subscriber to add more than a maximum number of members to the calling circle.

A telephone services system allowing subscribers of a telephone service provider to define a calling circle for discounted telephone calls, the system comprising:

• a telephone network interface for allowing the subscribers of the telephone service provider to make telephone calls with each other and with subscribers of other telephone service providers;
• a subscriber database that stores account information for the subscribers of the telephone service provider, the account information for each of at least some of the subscribers comprising an identification of members of the subscriber's calling circle, where one or more members of the subscriber's calling circle have a telephone service provider other than the subscriber's telephone service provider;
• and
• a billing maintenance system configured to update the subscribers' account information based on the subscribers' usage of telephone services, to charge the subscribers a first rate for calls with members of the subscribers' calling circle and a second rate for calls with persons outside the subscribers' calling circles, the first rate being discounted with respect to the second rate, to receive selections from the subscribers to change the members of the subscribers' calling circles, and to disallow each subscriber from adding a member to the subscriber's calling circle if a predefined limit on the maximum number of members in the subscriber's calling circle has been reached.

A method for providing telephone services to a subscriber by the subscriber's telephone service provider, the method comprising:

• receiving from a subscriber a selection of one or more telephone numbers for members of a calling circle, at least one of the telephone numbers associated with a telephone service provider other than the subscriber's telephone service provider;
• tracking calling activity by the subscriber, the calling activity including telephone calls between the subscriber and one or more phone numbers of the members of the calling circle;
• charging the subscriber a first rate for calls between phone numbers of members of the calling circle and a second rate for calls between phone numbers of persons outside the calling circle, the first rate being discounted with respect to the second rate;
• receiving from the subscriber a selection to add a member to the subscriber's calling circle;
• and
• disallowing the subscriber to add the member to the subscriber's calling circle if a predefined limit on the subscriber's changing of the calling circle has been reached.

A method for providing telephone services to a subscriber by the subscriber's telephone service provider, the method comprising:

• receiving from a subscriber a selection of one or more telephone numbers for members of a calling circle, at least one of the telephone numbers associated with a telephone service provider other than the subscriber's telephone service provider;
• tracking calling activity by the subscriber, the calling activity including telephone calls between the subscriber and one or more phone numbers of the members of the calling circle;
• charging the subscriber a first rate for calls between phone numbers of members of the calling circle and a second rate for calls between phone numbers of persons outside the calling circle, the first rate being discounted with respect to the second rate;
• receiving from the subscriber a selection to add a member to the subscriber's calling circle;
• and
• charging the subscriber a calling circle change fee if a predefined limit on the subscriber's changing of the calling circle has been reached.