Tips/Advice Tutorials

Solution to Failed SMS Message Delivery Due to Do Not Disturb (DND) Service

DND Nigeria MTN Etisalat Bulk SMS
Due to new regulations by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Networks have been mandated to make available a Do Not Disturb Service (DND) which prevents those who are subscribed from receiving Third Party Marketing Messages (which includes Bulk SMS).

The problem with this implementation is that a lot of these networks (like MTN Nigeria) have implemented the service across board, even to subscribers who did not request for it meaning that a lot of people are not able to receive Bulk SMS for weddings, meetings and other events without their knowledge.

This implementation is also the reason why there are a lot of messages which dont get to recipients which has been happening since June 2016.

As a Bulk SMS Website user, if you notice that your number or numbers that used to receive Bulk SMS are no longer receiving for no explicable reason, then you have to check the DND status on your number or the numbers in question.

Checking your DND Status is simple.

To check:

Text “STATUS” to 2442 from the phone in question.

You would receive a message showing if your Number is Blocked.

If the Number is Blocked, then follow the next step to start receiving your Bulk SMS again:

To deactivate the DND policy to enable you receive SMS.

Text “ALLOW” to 2442 on MTN Nigeria
Text “START” to 2442 on Etisalat Nigeria
Text “OUT” to 2442 on Airtel Nigeria

After the above is done, you will then receive a confirmation SMS that you have been “successfully deactivated” from the policy.

You can read more about this directly from
MTN Nigeria http://www.mtnonline.com/dnd
Etisalat Nigeria http://etisalat.com.ng/do-not-disturb/
Airtel Nigeria http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africarevamp/Nigeria/Home/personal/voiceandtext/vas/do-not-disturb/
If unblocking does not work, then you can do it online via https://www.donotdisturb.mtnonline.com:8081/vasportal

1 Comment

  • Reply
    Charlie
    November 14, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    I have been looking for this for a long time. Thanks for the info, hope its still valid in 2019

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