Onyeka, a car spare part dealer in Nnewi Nigeria, wanted to send money to one of his suppliers. He pulled out his phone and dialled some codes that looked similar to the one below:

*123*2*500000*1234567890#

This code is what educated people call USSD.

In case you are wondering what USSD stands for and how these helpful codes work, rest assured that we have the answers. But first, let’s take a look at how popular these codes are in Nigeria.

A total of five hundred and sixteen million, eighty thousand, five hundred and ninety-five (516,080,595) USSD transfers were made in the year 2022. And guess what? The CBN reported that all of these transfers summed up to about four trillion Nigerian naira.

Here’s a Monierate article to shine a light on the simple yet awesome USSD codes.

What is USSD?

The term USSD stands for “Unstructured Supplementary Service Data.”

USSD itself is a communication protocol. It is one of the ways in which information is passed around in GSM or Global System for Mobile networks.

Every telecommunication platform has a server-side and a user side. A USSD service, therefore, helps to transmit short messages between these two sides. Messages from the user side are sent to the server.

Once at the server side, the message is processed and a return message is sent to the user - displayed either directly on their screen or in the form of an SMS.

How USSD Works

A USSD service works in two ways. The first is as a Pull service and the second is as a Push service. Whether it is a Push or a Pull service is determined by the side where the first command comes from. Here’s what we mean:

USSD Pull

A Pull occurs when a user begins the USSD process. This is the most common way in which USSD works.

To begin, the user opens the call app on their mobile device and inputs a code. This looks exactly like the codes Onyeka dialled on his phone in our illustration above. It will always consist of numbers written between the * and # characters.

The format for a USSD code looks like this; (*12345#). You will notice that the format has the alphanumerics enclosing the numbers.

In some cases, a USSD code might begin with # instead of *. This is rare and does not apply to many services. Moreover, USSDs can contain a total of 182 characters but most of them are usually barely up to 20 characters in length.

A USSD is sent or activated when the user presses the call button - as if they wanted to make a call.

Once this happens, the appropriate service on the network is executed. This could perform any function. For example, it could activate or deactivate a subscription (such as caller tune service), request for the current status of a service (such as the user’s current airtime balance), or anything else.

The USSD code execution ends after the right function has been performed.

The system brings the entire process to a close by informing the user of the successful execution. There are two ways this happens. The information is either displayed directly on the user’s screen or sent as an SMS to the user’s phone number.

USSD Push

A USSD Push service occurs when a network operator initiates the process. This kind of service is less frequent than the other.

Difference Between SMS and USSD

What’s the difference between SMS and USSD? A lot. Here’s what makes these two operations very distinct from each other:

  • Allowed Characters: While SMS can contain alphabets, numbers, alphanumerics, and even emojis, USSD can only contain numbers and the special characters * and #.
  • Input Interface: SMS is sent through the message app while a USSD code is sent through the call app.
  • Format: USSD codes have a noticeable format. First, they always begin with the special character * (or in some cases, #). Secondly, they contain numbers. Lastly, they end with the special character #. SMS, on the other hand, doesn’t have any particular format. They can contain any letter or character.
  • Cost: Sending an SMS will cost you airtime whereas sending a USSD code does not cost anything.
  • Recipient: Users have to input the phone number of the person to whom they are sending an SMS message. This is not the case with USSD codes since the user does not have to worry about who is receiving the code request.

Pros and Cons of USSD

Pros

Easy to use:

People with little to no experience with technology find it easy to use USSD codes. One reason for this is that a code can be as short as five characters in length.

This makes them fairly easy to remember and use when necessary.

Secondly, the entire process for sending a USSD request happens within the call interface of mobile devices. There’s no complex interplay of applications or processes. Moreover, the time to complete each request is short.

Readily Available:

USSD does not require an active internet connection. Also, it can be operated in poor network areas. This makes it readily available.

Cons

Limited by time-outs:

USSD requests, once sent, cannot be undone. If you desire to cancel a request manually, you may have to send a cancel or close request by responding with an appropriate code.

Alternatively, a USSD request will be automatically cancelled if there is no response from the user or server side. This is because the USSD protocol comes with a default timer.

A feature such as this may result in the user having to retry a USSD code severally.

Might Be Used by Malicious Software:

Some software can send USSD code requests autonomously - without the knowledge of the person who owns the computer or device.

Alternatively, hackers may gain access to a mobile device and use such access to remotely launch USSD codes.

These cases can lead to the loss of victim’s funds or unauthorized access to subscriptions.

Services Where USSD Can Be Used

USSD is very flexible. It can be used in a wide number of services. This includes voting, banking and mobile payment, ticketing, polling, and much more.

Voting:

USSD can be applied to voting processes. This could work in two ways.

First, each contestant (in a political campaign or a beauty pageant, for example) can be assigned a unique USSD code. Users will then have to dial the specific code assigned to their favorite contestant and the server system will process this request as a vote.

The second way in which voting with USSD can work is this:

Every voter dials the same USSD code. This code is processed and a menu displaying the names of all contestants appears on the user’s screen. The user then provides a unique response to the displayed message, telling the server which of the contestants they pick.

Banking and Mobile Payments:

Remember the figures we mentioned in the introductory paragraph? The one of about four million naira transferred in 2022? All that was done through USSD Banking.

These days, virtually all banks have a unique USSD code and encourage customers to make use of it.

Such code facilitates USSD Banking. For those who are new to it, the term refers to a form of banking that relies on the use of USSD service.

This helps save customers their time and energy. Also, it reduces the number of customers visiting local bank branches for one service or another. The overall success of the USSD banking service is because it allows customers to quickly perform transactions, resolve issues, and report incidents.

For example, users can dial a specific USSD code to block all transactions on their bank account if it has been compromised.

Ticketing:

Everything from bus to concert tickets can be processed, sold, or delivered using a USSD service.

Conclusion

This article’s objective is to ensure that every reader has a crisp and detailed understanding of what USSD are. We, therefore, hope the term and its intricacies all make sense to you at this point.