Metering and Access Fee Scheme

Abstract

In the local phone market. we see two kinds of pricing schemes. One is a metering scheme in which a customer is charged according to the phone call usage. The other is allowing unlimited usage and charging a fixed fee per month. For the latter. we will call it access fee scheme in this paper. For several internet services. it is very important to choose the right pricing scheme in order to maximize the profit. Two typical options for pricing in providing services are a metering scheme and an access fee scheme. An Internet service provider can use either a metering scheme or an access fee scheme. That is. it can charge a customer according to the usage amount or a fixed access fee for unlimited usage. An Internet music service providers can charge a customer for each song downloaded or an access fee regardless of the number of songs.