Abstract
As the usage of the Internet/Private Networks has increased drastically, the performance degradation has become apparent. Pricing is soon being realized as the regulatory tool to provide proper incentives so that users' self-interest will lead them to modes their usage according to their needs. Hence leading to better overall network utilization and enhanced users' satisfaction. In this work, a scalable pricing framework for QoS capable networks supporting real time, adjustable real time, and non-real time traffic is studied The framework belongs to usage-based methods, is independent of the underlying network and the mechanisms for QoS provisioning. It is credit-based ensuring the fairness, comprehensibility, and predictability of usage cost. The network providers can ensure, via setting appropriate charging coefficients and with high probability, the cost recovery and profit, competitiveness of prices, and encouragement of client behaviors that will enhance the network's efficiency. Simulation results suggest that users have better overall satisfaction; better network utilization is achieved while reduced call blocking probability is observed. Furthermore, comparison with other scheme shows that our pricing mechanism achieves better utilization and/or users' satisfaction.