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    USSD Applications and Services-Image

    USSD Applications and Services

    June 12, 2007 by Kenney Jacob
    Category: Tech
    Tags: , , , , , |

    Author: Kenney Jacob

    Hi, I am Kenney Jacob, love blogging about Education, Media hypocrisy and Social Issues.

    Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) is a GSM service that allows high speed interactive communication between the subscribers and applications across a GSM Network. A sample USSD service is the bill status service accessed by dialing *141# or similar numbers in between * and #. USSD applications can be thought of as an IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) with out voice.

    Some of the USSD applications that we use regularly are

    • Alerts About special offers, services and news
    • Balance enquiry
    • Changing tariff plan and subscribing to various VAS services.
    • Recharging using prepaid vouchers

    Other than these many interesting services can be given using the USSD platform. One such service is the “call back” service. The user will use USSD to send a USSD message to his friend asking him to call back. This is done by pressing the USSD service number and the number to which the alert needs to be send. Assume 14 is the service number and you want me to call you back. Press this on your mobile and press dial.

    *14*9846831128#

    I will receive a message, “XXXXXXXXXX wants you to call him back” where XXXXXXXXXX will be your number.

    USSD

    USSD supports interactive sessions where a service can be provided by using a menu. Micro payment market gets a real boom with the USSD technology in place. Users can transfer money from their mobile prepaid and post paid account to other mobile accounts. There will be a service number associated with it. When the user presses the number and dials, he will be presented with menus where he has to enter the amount and the mobile number to which the money needs to be transferred.

    USSD is a session oriented technology and hence it supports menus and transactions. The state of the interaction between the user is tracked by the USSD server. Response times for USSD messages are shorter than SMS because SMS is a store and forward technology. All USSD services are accessed by dialing numbers between * and #. The handset recognizes those numbers and forwards the request to the USSD server instead of initializing a normal call or a data call. No additional application, phone menu or sim menu is needed for USSD to function as USSD is supported by every GSM handset.

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    53 Responses to “USSD Applications and Services”

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    1. Thanks, that is the simplest and clearest explanation I found of USSD on the web.

      Comment by Ria — June 29, 2007 @ 1:24 am

    2. It was really easy to understand .thanks indeed

      Comment by negar katebi — July 18, 2007 @ 6:15 pm

    3. As USSD is a session oriented technology

      Q1.) on the handset, how can we know the sesion end?
      Q2.) Can we send the 2 service in one time command, such as *141#*14*9846831128#

      Thank you for the answer from anyone.

      Comment by Prompol — August 1, 2007 @ 7:21 am

    4. I’m interested in developing an USSD menu driven applications
      I’m currently sms content provider and I would want to intergrate sms content with USSD technologyhow do I go about it.

      Thanks

      Comment by Andrew Mwesigwa — September 3, 2007 @ 4:45 pm

    5. Cool one. Please add more information on how Service Provides done USSD applications & about there APIs.
      Thanks
      Thiwanka

      Comment by Thiwanka Manamendra — September 12, 2007 @ 1:01 pm

    6. I’m a service provider (sms), i would like to know the way to develop USSD services gateway (documentation, website …)
      Thanks

      Comment by Mbiga Emmanuel — September 24, 2007 @ 6:54 pm

    7. Interesting piece !!. Thanks

      Comment by Adedeji Adedamola — October 15, 2007 @ 8:00 pm

    8. In a USSD session, will I be allowed to enter characters (or) can I enter only digits?

      Comment by Girish — October 18, 2007 @ 6:41 pm

    9. Where can I find those service number, and do they work in the Netherlands? I want to transmit lager messages to my employees, what do I need to do that. It has to be based on USSD, like cell broadcasting. Thank you.

      Comment by Thomas Loven — November 21, 2007 @ 2:37 am

    10. Thanks…for such a nice explanation of USSD…very interesting and useful information indeed…In fact i keep looking for new technologies in field of telecommunications for my seminar.

      Comment by Daneshwar Dutt Dubey — January 20, 2008 @ 1:54 pm

    11. It’ s good overview of USSD, I would like to know more about its implementation. Thanks

      Comment by Karaze Johannes — January 24, 2008 @ 1:48 pm

    12. Nice piece, Do we have any FOSS USSD Servers?

      Comment by Morris — February 2, 2008 @ 1:53 pm

    13. the way u have given the overview for USSD is really nice one and easy to understand.

      Comment by Amit Kumar Atap — February 21, 2008 @ 6:39 pm

    14. I am vas on IVRS provider. Now we are looking to provide VAS on USSD. Can u give me more information on USSD.

      Comment by Rodricks — March 19, 2008 @ 11:29 am

    15. I’m service provider in sms. Now i wan’t to improve my services using USSD. Can u tell me how to interact with the Operator USSD application server.

      Comment by Gabriel — April 25, 2008 @ 7:04 pm

    16. very interesting

      Comment by me — May 8, 2008 @ 3:40 pm

    17. what abt for USSD application server ? whether these are in built in HLR and IN ? or do we have a seperate server for these ? If we have seperate server, then how it’s connected to MSC ?

      Comment by Manjunath Bhide — May 28, 2008 @ 11:38 am

    18. Hi! I wanted to know whether the session on USSD can be generated from the customer end and what would be the approx cost if the session time is increased. Why is this facility lying underutilised.

      Comment by mrinal — July 6, 2008 @ 1:26 am

    19. I want to know whether a consumer can add an extra menu in USSD service? If yes , then plz write what are the criteria that will have to be followed and if not the what is the alternate method to do so.

      Comment by Afzal Imam — July 8, 2008 @ 9:12 pm

    20. I want to know whether a consumer can add an extra menu in USSD service? If yes , then plz write what are the criteria that will have to be followed and if not then what is the alternate method to do so.

      Comment by Afzal Imam — July 8, 2008 @ 9:13 pm

    21. I’m interested in developing an USSD menu driven applications. Currently I’m working with service provider provider and I want provide different services by intergrating sms content with USSD technology. Where I can get information (documentation, website etc.)regarding the same

      Thanks

      Comment by Ganesh — August 18, 2008 @ 12:08 pm

    22. [...] The registration is pretty simple just enter your mobile number and after that you will receive a USSD push from mchek. USSD push is a simple session oriented SMS push(similar to session oriented login [...]

      Pingback by The Ultimate Mobile Payment Solution :- mChek | I am a Techie — August 18, 2008 @ 8:47 pm

    23. [...] But still, majority kept themselves away from this, just because of cost of sending a message. 3Rs for GSM networks, 2 RS for CDMA networks and 1Rs for BSNL. But now USSD promises to change all of that. Read my earlier post on USSD here. [...]

      Pingback by USSD is Going to Change the Short Code Business | Disruptive Technologies and Education — August 20, 2008 @ 12:35 am

    24. latest tech. thanks for bring up with easy way kindly provide us all the Compatibility devices and communicationes.

      Comment by Maher — August 30, 2008 @ 7:10 pm

    25. please prescribe technical workflow in mobile banking services using ussd platform.

      Comment by a.kanwal — September 3, 2008 @ 4:48 pm

    26. Hey really nice and a short description of USSD….thnx

      Comment by vikrant — November 18, 2008 @ 2:41 pm

    27. Bonjour comment implémenter le protocol USSD et peut on l’utiliser sans dépendre de son opérateur GSM

      Comment by erpan — November 24, 2008 @ 10:03 pm

    28. Pretty cool stuff and interesting too…

      Comment by Aaron Princely Ekol — November 25, 2008 @ 3:28 pm

    29. USSD is a nuisance for a mobile owner. It does auto registration in most of the cases for the services we do not need. Like in BSNL we have cricket score auto registration on cells like LG’ Secret 750

      Comment by Professor — February 10, 2009 @ 11:37 am

    30. nice article.Would you please write a follow-up which answers all the good questions above? and tell us where ussd is being creatively used.

      Comment by sadique — May 21, 2009 @ 7:55 am

    31. hey will u please tell me how to develope USSD application ?
      how to start?
      and any books and references

      Comment by Sachin — August 27, 2009 @ 10:24 pm

    32. Kenney,

      I need your help in implementing USSD solutions for my project. I would really appreciate if you can share your email address.

      Brief: I want to launch a service similar to Hello Money offered by Barclays bank, however i need information on how to implement the USSD gateway and need contacts in the telecom world to make it successful.

      I am currently based in San Jose, California and am working on this project since last 1 year. I need you help. Please let me know your availablity.

      Thanks,
      Rajiv Parikh

      Comment by Rajiv Parikh — September 15, 2009 @ 1:18 pm

    33. I don’t know this is the exact answer for your questions but as I also struggling to find resources to get to know how to develop third party USSD Menu driven application I would like to post this thread. Normally in order to send data to mobile subscribers handset when they requesting by dialing a code (Eg: *100#, etc) we have to get access to USSD Server of Mobile Service Provider. I Mobile Service Provider’s USSD Server we can take a Provider Account and Configure URL of our service there. Then when the subscriber dials the relevant code the USSD server browser will direct that request to our third party application. In our side what we have to do is to develop the application to analyze the request send generate menus by taking data from a database and send back to the USSD server. Then USSD server will direct that response to subscriber’s hand set. The format of the response we have to make to send for the USSD Server will depend on the USSD browser in the USSD Server. May be we have to send the response in Http, XML, VXML, etc. In each response we have to add the functions to each menu item pressed by the user.

      Comment by Pubudini Prasanna — October 22, 2009 @ 5:26 pm

    34. The USSD services has it’s own servers where services are created and run. It gets necessary information from eg. IN or passes requests to IN. Ii is like another medium which your users can use to access services like IVR and SMS.

      nilz

      Comment by Nilesh Chand — October 28, 2009 @ 3:39 pm

    35. Hi
      We provide USSDS Gateways and also provide USSDS application development.
      contact us at sales@peopletech.co.in

      Comment by Imthiyaz ahmed — October 31, 2009 @ 4:47 pm

    36. Hello friends, i wants to know thr flow of USSD. and second thing is that how to create this short code in USSD. Waiting for your +reply.

      Comment by sumer — January 5, 2010 @ 3:50 pm

    37. Dear Kenney,

      This is parichaya…and i just wanted to know what are the basic requirment to developmy own USSD end to end application.

      I need to develop a USSD application such as student enquiry …

      Please help me out and also i am working on Java …will this work.

      Regards,

      Parichaya

      P.S: My id is parichaya1984@gmail.com ; if any document or even refernce you could provide i will be thankfull to you.

      Comment by Parichaya Thakur — January 6, 2010 @ 5:05 pm

    38. ya this is good one.what are requirement to deploy ussd applications?i think
      it requires ussd gateway,server, user & gsm modem.is it correct? how to configure all these.i hope u will respond ASAP

      Comment by karthik — January 26, 2010 @ 4:13 pm

    39. I am also looking at developing a end to end USSD application and have no idea where to get started, everywhere a search i get Providers wanting to sell me a service to develop it themselves but I want to develop the app. please,… someone p[oint me in the right direction. i.e white papers, software requirements, hardware requirement +++

      Thanks G

      Comment by GraemeB — February 5, 2010 @ 6:58 pm

    40. We’re trying to set up a push USSD demo. We’ve got some information, but we’re struggling. Would you be in a position to help.

      Regards
      Ezweni

      Comment by Ezweni — February 26, 2010 @ 5:26 pm

    41. [...] A sample USSD service is the bill status service accessed by dialing *141# or similar numbers in between * and #. USSD applications can be thought of as an IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) with out voice. [...]

      Pingback by USSD: Old is Gold | Free Nokia 5800 Games, Nokia N97 Games, 5530 Games, Nokia 5800 and N97 Themes, Nokia 5800 and N97 Softwares, Free S60v5 Stuff — March 17, 2010 @ 5:32 pm

    42. I am working with USSD service provider. But checking the services running or not. I wants to know that how to develop this USSD menu, that can help to perform better in my organization.

      Comment by sumer — March 25, 2010 @ 6:13 pm

    43. [...] A sample USSD service is the bill status service accessed by dialing *141# or similar numbers in between * and #. USSD applications can be thought of as an IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) with out voice. [...]

      Pingback by USSD: Old is Gold | Heder 3G 4G - Mobile Phone Technology News — April 2, 2010 @ 3:35 am

    44. [...] A sample USSD service is the bill status service accessed by dialing *141# or similar numbers in between * and #. USSD applications can be thought of as an IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) with out voice. [...]

      Pingback by USSD: Old is Gold | Escort Multimedia - Computers Mobile Phones 3G Technology — July 9, 2010 @ 12:43 am

    45. hi,
      i want to send a pre recorded voice to any phone using modem
      if it is possible please reply me.

      thank you
      sudheer

      Comment by sudheer.gandham — July 22, 2010 @ 7:20 pm

    46. Hi,

      I would like to develop USSD menu based application. I dont know how to develop, any one can help me… I am using Ubuntu 9.10. I need the following…

      1. What are the things needed to develop (end to end) USSD menu based application development.
      2.Web server, USSD Gateway, if any IDE required,, How to configure All in Ubuntu.

      Note: I dont have any agreement with Network provider. I need run End to End Demo…

      Thanks

      Regards,
      Kaja Mohaideen.A

      Comment by Kaja Mohaideen — August 30, 2010 @ 7:00 pm

    47. Hi,
      First, thank you very much for your explanations about USSD, they are very clarifier. I´m in the same problems as many of the other readres. I want to develop a USSD based quiz, and I´m just starting in the USSD world. I use both windows and Ubuntu. Similarly to the last reader:
      1. What are the things needed to develop (end to end) an USSD based quiz.
      2.Web server, USSD Gateway, if any IDE required,, How to configure All in Ubuntu.
      I neither have any agreement with Network provider. I need run End to End Demo…
      Thank you very much
      Dani

      Comment by Daniel Martinez — January 19, 2011 @ 5:05 pm

    48. Is it possible for USSD to trigger a Java application on the handset ?

      Comment by Sunny Rao — February 10, 2011 @ 7:01 am

    49. Hey can you please give a example code for USSD menu?

      Comment by THARAKA — April 24, 2011 @ 2:12 pm

    50. can anyone build a ussd for my bank
      i can profit share

      thank you

      Comment by kenneth morgan — May 27, 2011 @ 9:06 pm

    51. hi

      i send *123# ussd command by AT+CUSD but next i should reply a parameter to server !

      how can i send reply parameters by AT Command to USSD sessions?
      plz help me :(

      Comment by peyman — June 20, 2011 @ 11:32 am

    52. Why would someone steal a sim card and all the calls on the itemised bill says either : MyServices/USSD or MyServices/Smartphon – This person ran up a bill of R4,000 in the period of 3 days? The duration of each call shows as 0. And the most expensive cost is R1.29 which is for a second. I am really confused and trying to figure this out.

      Comment by Estelle — September 28, 2011 @ 1:26 am

    53. I want to use USSD on PC. A sim card is connected to PC using USB modem over tata docomo network. Can I use USSD commands on PC?
      PLz give solution abt this.
      Thanks.

      Comment by Vasve V — November 23, 2011 @ 10:20 am

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