OneTime Passwords or OTPs as they are more commonly referred to are every business owner, especially online vendors' most effective tool for user authentication, authorization, and secure transactions. Little wonder then that a lot of businesses in different industries and sectors integrate this on their system and it’s working superbly for them.
However, there is a challenge with OTPs whereby some users upon request do not receive this at the point of their transactions. This might be because those users’ phone numbers are currently active on the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) service. DND is a service introduced by the NCC in which the subscribers do not receive third-party messages. The question for every business owner whose system and infrastructure is dependent on OTP then is: “How do I deliver OTPs to those phone numbers on DND?”.
Well, here are four (4) very effective options for delivery of OTPs to phone numbers on DND:
Option 1 - Use OTP.NG
The first option you can use in delivering your OTPs to DND phone numbers is the OTP.NG platform. This platform belongs to the parent company that is SmartSMSSolutions and was designed specifically for OTP delivery. You can get the API for the OTP delivery on the website here.
With sending OTPs on OTP.NG, you get assured delivery of OTPs to all phone numbers, DND inclusive. It sends the OTP message through a transactional route that has no such restrictions. Note that the SMS would be delivered with OTP NG as the Sender ID, whereas your own ID or name of the company will be added to the message as a signature.
Option 2 - Use the International Route
We also have an international route for effective delivery of OTPs to all phone numbers including the ones on DND. With the international route, it is assumed that the message you are sending is coming from outside Nigeria to a Nigerian phone number, and hence treated as international traffic.
You can find the option of choosing the international route for SMS right on the Send SMS page of the website. However, see the requirements for using this route and every other thing you need to know about it here.
Option 3 - Use the Transaction Bind
The transactional bind is actually meant for cases like this. Just like the name implies, this route is used or meant for sending transactional messages like OTPs. It is also optimized to ensure delivery to DND numbers without restrictions.
See here for all the details you need to know about the transactional bind.
Option 4 - Use Voice OTP
Another option of delivering OTPs which can work for phone numbers on DND is using Voice. The Voice OTP service was introduced on SmartSMSSolutions a couple of weeks ago, and since then is being used effectively by a lot of business owners for OTP delivery. With Voice OTP, the OneTime Password is delivered through a phone call as voice, rather than as SMS.
You can also learn about the Voice OTP service here.
With these four (4) options, we are confident that you can effectively deliver OTPs to your customers, whether or not their phone numbers are on DND. This would increase the confidence they have in you, and help you reach your business goals.
If you need more information about how to deliver SMS to phone numbers on DND, you can contact us on 07034243326 | 08035515868 or send a mail to