Pricing and Cost Recovery for Internet Services: Practical Review, Classification and Application of Relevant Models

Suitable pricing models for Internet services represent one of the main prerequisites for a successfully running implementation of a charging and accounting system. This paper introduces general aspects influencing the choice of a pricing model in practical situations and presents a survey as well as a classification of relevant and advanced approaches to be found in the scientific literature. First performance results on charging extensions within the Internet are presented, which are completed by a set of market price simulations for dynamic pricing models within the same implementation environment. Based on cost model investigations some detailed insights into price and cost issues from an Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) point of view are given. Moreover, current challenges as well as problems are discussed in a practical context as investigated in the Swiss National Science Foundation project Charging and Accounting Technology for the Internet (CATI).