How to stop/Reduce Spam SMS on Ugandan telecoms!

We all or at least most of us get messages from advertisers, spammers and telecoms themselves advertising lots of thing from promotions to love tips, deals and outrageously unreal offers. Some of you even get phone calls from such companies, telling you to go for a music concert or find love.  VoIP (Voice Over Companies) got cleverer they now use flash messages that we might call pop-ups on your phone screen every after 5 minutes asking you to press OK for 220Ugx, these flash messages make some curse because they are unavoidable.

Those who really hate adverts on their mobile phones will at least reduce their messages because some messages just can’t stop coming such as the 2 messages you get for every time you load airtime on some telecoms. However the other messages from other senders and spammers can be stopped through following the following steps.

Just in case you love filling up you inbox with messages you don’t need & cell phone vibrate all the time you  have no problem with such messages just do the opposite of what am about to say.

Thanks to Warid and MTN who had fully functional features to stop SMS spam by using a feature they call “Do Not Disturb” This feature lets you stop SMS for particular SMS short codes e.g. 406, 167 and MobiAds on warid (the pop up type of sms) on Warid you can actually add a short code to block in case you get so many messages asking you to subscribe for features you don’t like. Yeah this feature is free and here is how you activate it.

On warid dial *100#, then select Option 9, then select Option 6 (Do not disturb), then select option 1 (Stop Messages) or dial *100*9*6*1# for the whole process to end. To add another short code or number to block dial *100*9*6# Select option 1 then scroll down to option 8 to block a particular short code. Or quick dial *100*9*6*1# then enter the code to block. Just in case you want to block these messages with ease just dial *100*9*6*1#.

For those on MTN, *175# then enter/reply with option1about four times OR *175*1*1*1*1# MTN also has a “Report Abusive Sms” program on their website where you can report abusive messages and have them blocked.

The above methods are offered and controlled by telecoms, and definitely some messages will go through their filter, especially messages whose sender ID is a text e.g. LOVE or DFCU, and those other messages with slightly longer codes e.g. 080012341234 (just an example) or you might realize the SMS provider you signed up with 5  years ago to send you soccer updates might still have your in their address book and yet you do not want to receive these messages so the universal way to end such messages is by sending STOP to the sender’s short code number. Remember some providers tend to have a different keyword to stop their messages.

Lastly when all this fails, we have to call in the mighty authority of Apps that block spam sms, some phones have inbuilt call and sms blacklist options where you are not notified when such a message is received and your phone wont vibrate or show an sms notification, This comes in handy to ignore more than spam messages but also those nagging friends or stalkers. And Before I forget you can also use this feature to hide messages from telecoms notifying you that you have loaded airtime since you can’t block these messages. However the messages might remain on your phone but deleting them as a whole is easy. Make sure to put the tone and vibration off for such messages, on iPhone it’s a bit tricky because you have to add the SMS sender’s number to your contact list and remove vibration and tone.

Some apps however block your phone from receiving SMS with specific sender IDs and are deleted on spot in the background without your notice; such include SMS Spam blocker–Postman , SMS Blocker by Optinno, on Android. These tools will come in handy. However be careful using them otherwise you might miss that wedding meeting sms.

Lastly, always avoid registering for SMS notification services you do not need, for example replying a spam message with a keyword might add you to the sender’s database so you will receive these messages. Since not all notifications will be unnecessary, make sure to find out the sms opt out option before you register for any sms service because it might be relevant today and may not be a burden tomorrow.

Lastly  the UCC should enforce it regulations and standards to crack down on bulk sms misuse, and you can help by submitting numbers of companies and individuals that have misused sms especially by creating spam.

Otherwise enjoy a spam free inbox and share this to all your friends with spam, Share your views or queries in the comments.