Mobile dial code

A mobile dial code (MDC) also known as a Hashtag Code or Pound Code is a grouping of 3 to 10 numbers following either a "#" "##" "*" "**" used to create a short, easy to remember phone number.

In the United States, each wireless network controls how their MDCs will be used. As such, when wireless customers call a MDC, they're call is routed to the end user that their carrier selects.

Years ago, MDCs were used exclusively for diagnosing repairs, and other repair related purposes by landline and wireless carriers. In recent years, a few savvy businesses have been able to get MDCs provisioned for commercial use.

MDCs are used by each wireless carrier for ones of three following purposes:

1. They act as instant, automated courtesy tools for their customers, for things like, customer service, and paying phones bills; and,

2. They assist cell phone technicians with diagnosing problems with and making repairs, to unlock or lock cell phones.

3. The final, relatively new use for MDCs is to provision them to large companies, of that wireless carrier, for use as a vanity telephone number.

This article relates primarily to the third, and most evocative and dynamic uses of MDCs, that being their use as adjunct marketing tools. In this context, we understand that businesses, using one of the very

In fact, there are only twelve known MDCs (that work on all major wireless carriers, in all 50 States).

Of course the inherent value in MDCs has proven to be the fact that they are easy to remember and therefore easier to brand than ten digit toll free numbers.

MDCs are analogous to the excitement that occurred when advertisers first recognized utility of spelling words with toll free numbers. When businesses were first introduced to vanity phone numbers, like 800.Flowers and 800.Mattress, the vanity phone number business exploded. Now vanity phone numbers is a multi-billion dollar business.

There are millions of toll free numbers and local numbers in service and used as vanity phone numbers. As such, this glut of numbers makes it impossible for most toll free numbers to stand out from the pack.

Only a small percentage of those phone numbers are effective marketing tools, such as 800Flowers and 800.Mattress.

MDCs are also similar to the tremendously valuable generic ".com" domain names of the 1980s and 90s. Savvy businesses scooped up, and built businesses around their domain names like 800Flowers.com and 800.Mattress.com.

Most of all, MDCs represent an intriguing opportunity to businesses that generate leads, either for their own use or to sell to other businesses. The selling of leads has changed the way businesses get their leads. Businesses must either compete against highly skilled, marketing experts, or buy leads and leave the marketing to the lead generation experts.

For a MDC to be used as a vanity telephone number, it must be provisioned to its user by all of the major wireless carriers, which as of the date of this article are: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile. If the business needs to use to the MDC in more than one State, accommodations can be made for one MDC to be shared by multiple users on a state by state, or even local area by local area basis through advanced routing technology, called geo-routing. Inbound calls to MDCs can either be automatically routed based upon the area code of the caller, or by asking the caller to type out speak their zip code into the phone.

MDCs are dialed just like a regular telephone number. The caller can be presented with any one of a variety of responses that an MDC user defines. Most MDC users choose to use their MDC as a direct dial to their call center, to get live representatives connected with callers as quickly as possible.

Other uses of MDCs include, routing them to an IVR call, or to connect the caller with a video or audio clip, a mobile coupon, game or an application.

Since calls to MDCs are made for cell phones, businesses can also send automated text message and calls to their callers. Responses to callers cannot be made using a MDC. So, instead businesses use ten digit tracking numbers for replying to calls made to MDCs.

Importantly, consumers cannot send to or received text messages from MDCs, and similarly businesses cannot receive text messages on MDCs or send text messages from MDC.

One type of mobile dial codes are USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) codes, which can be used for communicating with the service provider's computers (i.e. for WAP browsing, prepaid callback service, mobile-money services, location-based content services, menu-based information services, and as part of configuring the phone on the network).

A mobile dial code is not the same as an abbreviated dial code which only supports voice calls, basically abbreviating a standard phone number and connecting the caller to a person or machine (interactive voice response system or voicemail system) that answers the call.

A mobile dial code is not the same as a 2D bar code which must be photographed or scanned by a mobile phone camera prior to presenting the caller with a response.

Many of the 4-alphanumeric mobile dial codes have been allocated or collected by cybersquatters

Up until 2018, StarStar Mobile operated the National StarStar Registry in the United States leasing StarStar Numbers available through AT&T and Verizon as of July 2010. Sprint and T-Mobile partnerships were announced in March 2011. An example of a StarStar number is **TAXI (**8294) which allows a mobile phone user to connect to a local taxi company.

StarStarMobile is no longer able to license **codes to businesses other than through AT&T. Without the other carriers agreeing to with with StarStar they are unable to conduct business.

There are only a few MDCs available, they are now referred to as either Poundcodes or Hashtagcodes.

An example of a MDC project in use #250 (pound two-fifty) their MDC is activated on most of the significant mobile carriers in the US and Canada: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, cSpire, and small regional mobile carriers, such as; Canada: Rogers, Bell Mobility, Telus, Eastlink, Freedom Mobile, Sasktel, Fido, and Videotron.

The company, Hashtag Dialing Codes, LLC ("HDC"), is the only agency with five MDCs that work on all major carriers, in all 50 States. HDC has filed for trademark protection for the terms Hashtagcodes and Poundcodes. See Hashtagcodes.com and Poundcodes.com.

use of these few available MDCeCs in a manner similar to vanity toll free number companies.

Each of HDC's MDCs are setup to be licensed based upon a businesses geographical territory, either by a portion of a state, a whole state, multiple states, and nationality. Each licensee gets exclusive use of their MDC in their licensed territory.

The MDCs that are operational in all 50 States include:

#Jim - #546

#4Law - #4529

#4Help - #44257

#SSDI - #7734

#Easy - #3259

#Easy is designated for licensing not only on a geographical basis, but also on a business type basis. Through the use of voice recognition and geographic targeting, #Easy will be licensed to multiple types of business across the United States. By sharing one MDC using this technology, hundreds of businesses can share one MDC phone number, creating a unique, telephone number based search engine.

This approach to using a #Code, if successful, will give birth to a completely new type of business, capable of protecting the anonymity of callers through the use of masked phone numbers for call routing and private SMS messages with details about companies which the caller is searching for.

Another example of a MDC in action is the work done by #250 in 2015. #250 brokered a nationwide agreement with iHeartRadio Los Angeles, Sirius XM and Premiere Networks. Callers are prompted to say a brand keyword, which corresponds to an advertiser or non-profit (e.g. "Hope" causes a connection to Food For The Poor).

See also

• Abbreviated dialing
• Vertical service code, consisting of an asterisk followed by a two-digit number.
• Short code, for sending SMS and MMS text messages
• Comparison of user features of messaging platforms