Pricing Differentiated Services in the GPRS Environment

The General Packet Radio Service extends the existing GSM mobile communications technology by providing packet switching and higher data rates in order to efficiently access IP-based services in the Internet. We adapt the Differentiated Services Quality-of-Service support framework and apply it over the GPRS air interface in order to provide various levels of service differentiation. We also focus on applying a charging technique so as to publish a unit price for each service class. These prices are designed to lead to the maximization of social welfare and the users' net benefit.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]