A telecommunications network uses a supervisory service broker in a packet
messaging environment, particularly Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
messaging, to changeably allocate and to account for the usage of network
resources by users. The SIP INVITE and other messages are passed through
the supervisory broker, monitored for accounting and potentially
redirected to change allocations of resources. The resources can
generally comprise applications and applications servers such as media
storage and playback, voicemail and directory services, subnet messaging
and instant messaging, voice-over-Internet, wireless linkages and others,
and can be logically grouped in packages that are allocable. Users such
as telecom carriers and others can contract for usage and also can
contract to provide resources for use by others, in an unlimited way or
according to terms, and for appropriate credit.