Orange France is taking Facebook to Africa, deploying something called USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data), which apparently allows even the most basic non-Internet-connected mobile phone to access the social networking service via a text-based service. Orange launched a version of this service in Egypt (through its Mobinil arm) late last year. (See Orange Takes Facebook to Africa.)
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
USSD, while not popular in the US, is the sort of codes that allow you to recharge your phone or check your balance without actually sending an SMS or making a call. They are usually in the format of *...#....# (where the dots are numbers) and you identify the service and actions with it. Then press send and the phone gets a response from the network. Its really convenient for prepaid and in my past life, I was part of a mobile payment/cash transfer system that we were implementing in Congo (DRC). You would type *code#dest-phone#dest-amt# and you would send money from your account to someone elses. The system then prompted yo back to be sure of the transfer.
So yeah.. it might be a painfully simple experience, but gets facebook down to EVERYONE. pretty cool.
USSD, while not popular in the US, is the sort of codes that allow you to recharge your phone or check your balance without actually sending an SMS or making a call. They are usually in the format of *...#....# (where the dots are numbers) and you identify the service and actions with it. Then press send and the phone gets a response from the network. Its really convenient for prepaid and in my past life, I was part of a mobile payment/cash transfer system that we were implementing in Congo (DRC). You would type *code#dest-phone#dest-amt# and you would send money from your account to someone elses. The system then prompted yo back to be sure of the transfer.
So yeah.. it might be a painfully simple experience, but gets facebook down to EVERYONE. pretty cool.