Methods and apparatus to determine a telecommunications account status

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a data collector associated with a measurement entity, the data collector including a processor and a memory storing instructions to be executed by the processor to:

send a credit transfer request to a crediting system associated with a mobile communications service provider, the credit transfer request associated with a device identifier corresponding to a mobile communication device;

receive a response associated with the credit transfer request, the response including an error message; and

in response to the error message not indicating an account status, determine the account status associated with the device identifier based on parsing individual keywords of the error message and interpreting the individual keywords using a default setting, the account status corresponding to an unassigned account type when the error message indicates at least one of the device identifier is not in use, the device identifier is not assigned to an account, or an unrecognized account error.

2. The apparatus as described in claim 1 , wherein the account status includes at least one of active, inactive, prepaid, non-prepaid, assigned, or unassigned.

3. The apparatus as described in claim 2 , wherein the account status corresponds to at least one of an assigned account type, a non-prepaid account type, or an inactive account type when the error message indicates an inactive account error.

4. The apparatus as described in claim 1 , wherein, when the error message includes text, the data collector is to determine the account status by parsing the text to identify one or more of the individual keywords.

5. The apparatus as described in claim 1 , wherein the data collector is to determine the account status by parsing the error message to identify an error code.

6. The apparatus as described in claim 1 , wherein the credit transfer request includes a request to transfer at least one of money or minutes to an account associated with the device identifier.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 , wherein the device identifier includes at least one of a telephone number, an internet protocol (IP) address, an electronic mail address, a universal resource locator (URL), or a device hardware serial number.

8. A method, comprising:

sending, by executing an instruction with a processor, a credit transfer request to a crediting system associated with a communications service provider, the credit transfer request associated with a device identifier corresponding to a mobile communication device;

receiving, by executing an instruction with the processor, a response associated with the credit transfer request, the response including an error message; and

in response to the error message not indicating an account status, determining, by executing an instruction with the processor, the account status associated with the device identifier based on parsing individual keywords of the error message and interpreting the individual keywords using a default setting, the account status corresponding to an unassigned account type when the error message indicates at least one of the device identifier is not in use, the device identifier is not assigned to an account, or an unrecognized account error.

9. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein the account status includes at least one of active, inactive, prepaid, non-prepaid, assigned, or unassigned.

10. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein the account status corresponds to at least one of an assigned account type, a non-prepaid account type, or an inactive account type when the error message indicates an inactive account error.

11. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein, when the error message includes text, determining the account status includes parsing the text to identify one or more of the individual keywords.

12. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein determining the account status includes parsing the error message to identify an error code.

13. The method as defined in claim 8 , wherein the device identifier includes at least one of a telephone number, an internet protocol (IP) address, an electronic mail address, a universal resource locator (URL), or a device hardware serial number.

14. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed, cause a machine to at least:

send a credit transfer request to a communications service provider, the credit transfer request associated with a device identifier corresponding to a communication device;

receive a response associated with the credit transfer request, the response including an error message; and

in response to the error message not indicating an account status, determine the account status associated with the device identifier based on parsing individual keywords of the error message and interpreting the individual keywords using a default setting, the account status corresponding to an unassigned account type when the error message indicates at least one of the device identifier is not in use, the device identifier is not assigned to an account, or an unrecognized account error.

15. The storage medium as described in claim 14 , wherein the account status includes at least one of active, inactive, prepaid, non-prepaid, assigned, or unassigned.

16. The storage medium as described in claim 14 , wherein the account status corresponds to at least one of an assigned account type, a non-prepaid account type, or an inactive account type when the error message indicates an inactive account error.

17. The storage medium as described in claim 14 , wherein determining the account status includes parsing the error message to identify one or more of the individual keywords or an error code.