A method and system to allow congestion charging signals to be generated
and congestion charges to be applied on an inter-domain basis, on an
aggregated basis and not on a per flow basis. Each network domain charges
its neighbouring domain for any ECN marks that it forwards to them. Since
a flow will collect marks as it progresses across the network the last
network domain (typically an Internet service provider (ISP) located at
the edge of the network domains) will levy a charge based on a higher
number of marks than any of the charges levied by other domains involved
in the transmission of the flow, and this higher charge can be passed on
to the end user, preferably as a single aggregated charge per subscriber
per accounting period. Each network domain (whether an edge ISP or other
domain such as an intermediate ISP) will forward traffic to other network
domains and consequently can produce a single aggregated charge per
connected domain.