Many mobile-phone companies already handle small charges with per-second billing for phone calls.

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What T-Mobile is going to do is simply separate out the billing for your service from your phone.

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For example, such cases typically concern permission to use data from a single source, such as a phone company's billing records.

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But a billing document shows 68 meetings and phone calls.

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As every smart phone user knows, billing by the cellular operaters is designed to push you to using wifi when in your home or any Starbucks or other public location that will keep you off their generally overstressed cellular networks.

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Merloni can connect machines to a service centre via a phone line, making possible off-site billing, testing and the dispatch of an engineer who knows what needs fixing in advance.

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Of course, if the billing address for the card does not match the shipping addresses, you may want to pick up the phone.

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The technique is based on the fact that mobile-phone companies keep information about the telephone numbers called, and where calls are made and received, for billing purposes.

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The company also touted its new calling feature, "myFaves, " which allows T-Mobile customers on specific billing plans unlimited nationwide calling to their five favorite people, regardless of whether they use a competing wireless or landline phone service.

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