sends the remaining minutes information back to the client the remaining minutes information can be stored by the client in a memory for example flash memory upon terminating a call the remaining minutes information can be added to an elapsed time of the call the result of the addition can be stored as contract minutes remaining by storing remaining minutes at call initiation and adding elapsed time at call termination true contract minutes remaining can be tracked by the client referring to fig1 when a user device connects to a service provider 102 the service provider verifies a device identification 104 the service provider determines the terms of a contract with the device owners and sends a status to the device 106 the device stores the status 108 the service provider handles a connection for the device 110 and when the device terminates the connection 112 the device adds an elapsed time of the connection to the status received from the service provider 114 as shown in fig2 a mobile device such as a cellular telephone 206 or a personal digital assistant 210 can request a status from a service provider 202 through a connection the connection can be established through for example a cellular network 204 or a computer network 208 while fig2 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention implementing wireless technology it should also be understood that the present invention can also be implemented over a network where the device is connected by a physical connection such as.