The invention provides a method and system for locally tracking network
usage and enforcing usage plans at a client device. In an embodiment of
the invention, a unique physical key, or token, is installed at a client
device of one or more networks. The key comprises a usage application and
one or more access parameters designated the conditions and/or limits of
a particular network usage plan. Upon initial connection to the network,
the usage application grants or denies access to the network based on an
analysis of the current values of the access parameters. Therefore,
network usage tracking and enforcement is made simple and automatic
without requiring any back-end servers on the network while still
providing ultimate flexibility in changing billing plans for any number
of users at any time.