Key Takeaways
- Scenario 406 is school-feeding meal tokens on *440# then a receipt SMS — not distribution-eve prepaid, surveys, *182#, agent KYC, disaster *999#, or cash-for-work *721#.
- USSD collects the token. SMS confirms the meal. Do not log PINs or child IDs in gateway payloads.
- Priced by devices and SMS send volume. You use your own phone and operator SMS credit. Free is 300 SMS lifetime, 1 device. Developer is 25,000 SMS per year.
- Starter is 2 devices; the kitchen spare still counts.
- Donate lists stay off the receipt radio until the last sitting.
- Canary both radios at 10:40 before the first *440# wave, not at yesterday’s HQ ping.
Summary
Scenario 406 is school-feeding attendance: a caregiver or cook dials *440#, then a receipt SMS confirms the meal token. Service pricing is based on device count and total SMS sent through the gateway. You need a working Android phone with a SIM and SMS credit from your mobile operator. Operator message costs are yours—we do not sell carrier SMS balance.
If the short code works and the receipt radio is dark, you served a sitting that finance cannot prove and parents cannot check.
Not a CodeCanyon “NGO SMS” pack. Device meters apply — Twilio vs Android SMS gateway.
Key takeaways
- Scenario 406 is school-feeding meal tokens on *440# then a receipt SMS — not distribution-eve prepaid, surveys, *182#, agent KYC, disaster *999#, or cash-for-work *721#.
- USSD collects the token. SMS confirms the meal. Do not log PINs or child IDs in gateway payloads.
- Priced by devices and SMS send volume. You use your own phone and operator SMS credit. Free is 300 SMS lifetime, 1 device. Developer is 25,000 SMS per year.
- Starter is 2 devices; the kitchen spare still counts.
- Donate lists stay off the receipt radio until the last sitting.
- Canary both radios at 10:40 before the first *440# wave, not at yesterday’s HQ ping.
Related reading
USSD gateway use cases, two-way SMS, how an Android SMS gateway works, WFP school meals.
Context
Kitchens open at 11:00. Feature phones still dial USSD. Receipt SMS is the caregiver’s copy. Fundraising wants the same lunch window. One radio in a locked store loses the sitting.
Free (300 SMS lifetime) is a rehearsal kitchen. Developer is 25,000 SMS per year.
Core scenario guidance
USSD first. Receipt only after a successful session. Duplicates flag a supervisor — they do not auto-issue a second meal.
Hold donate until the last sitting. Locale is the school, not HQ.
Kitchen vs receipt roles
| Role | When | Typical fail |
|---|---|---|
| USSD *440# token | 11:00–13:30 sitting | Short-code down; paper tally with no receipt |
| Receipt SMS | After USSD success | Queued behind donate |
| Duplicate / second sitting | Same MSISDN twice | Second meal without supervisor flag |
| Donate / newsletter | Held until last sitting | Released at 11:00 into receipts |
Cost and ownership
Priced by devices and SMS send volume. You use your own phone and operator SMS credit. The kitchen spare is a billed device. Receipts burn airtime.
Name a 10:15–14:00 on-call for sittings, not only HQ hours.
Operations
10:40 canary both radios and a test *440#. After OEM updates, re-pair the night before a large kitchen.
Abort: hold donate, keep receipts, paper-mark only with a supervisor code. Do not “resend all meals.”
Security and compliance
No PINs, child IDs, or ration amounts in gateway logs if policy forbids. Short “meal marked — keep this text.”
Authenticate USSD callbacks. Donate is promotional. Receipts are ops — still honour STOP where required.
Decision guide
Ship when 10:40 canary is green and duplicates flag a person. Delay if phones live in a store that locks before lunch. If handsets are forbidden, CPaaS for receipts; USSD still needs the operator short code.
Checklist
- Primary + kitchen spare paired.
- 10:40 canary + test *440#.
- Receipt after USSD success only.
- Duplicate supervisor flag.
- Donate held.
- Airtime before 10:15.
- Battery exemptions both OEMs.
- School locale.
- Kitchen on-call named.
- Device cap includes spare.
Next steps
Review device and SMS volume pricing, device setup, SMS API documentation.
Deep dive: production hardening
Generators dying at 10:30 is an outage. Power-bank plus labelled brick per radio.
Dual-SIM remap after patches. Receipt SMS stays on the documented slot.
No auto-reply echoing USSD session data. Watch DLR, not MIS 200s.
Deep dive: scaling and failure modes
Multi-school weeks add devices before inventing a hidden unlimited-handset SKU.
Two kitchens, two 11:00s. One UTC cron mixes receipts.
Raise OEM ceilings; fair-use remains. Not unlimited carrier SMS.
Deep dive: integration discipline
Idempotency on child_token + school_id + meal_date.
If an agent files meal SMS, MCP is a REST wrapper — live fields in Developer Center.
Priced by devices and SMS send volume. You use your own phone and operator SMS credit.
10:40 kitchen drill
Canary both radios. Complete a staff *440# and confirm one receipt DLR.
Hold a dummy donate list; confirm it does not transmit during the sitting.
Abort: hold donate, keep receipts, page if both dark.
Related product pages
Jump to the live product docs for this topic—not another long-form article.
- USSD balance and menu automationOperator USSD codes
- SMS API documentationLive endpoint reference
- device and SMS volume pricingPlans and allowances
- PHP REST send samplesPHP code examples
