Monday 1 June 2020

Delivery Report Statuses and Their Meaning

Below is the list of the DLR status codes returned by the operators and what they mean. To get delivery report for messages sent






Code

Meaning

DELIVRDThe message was delivered to the cell phone.
SENTThe message was sent to the operator but yet to get any DLR
PENDINGThe message has been forwarded to the phone number and possibly delivered but the recipient's phone is yet to reply the operator with acknowledgment
ACKEDThe message was sent to the operator and acknowledged by the operator
ACCEPTEDThe message was accepted by the operator for delivery
ENQUEUEThe message was sent to the operator and forwarded to the cell phone but yet to reply with Delivery Acknowledgement.
ENROUTEThe message is being routed for delivery
UNKNOWNThe message has been confirmed as undelivered but no detailed information related to the failure is known.
An unknown error might have occurred on the operator SMS server.
This can also be generated as a result of PORTABILITY error
UNDELIVAttempt to deliver a message failed.
- The handset might be out of network coverage when message delivery was attempted.
- The handset might be switched off.
- The handset might be roaming out of carrier's supported network.
- The message might have failed due to suspicion of SPAM on the operator network eg sender ID relating to financial institutions or government agencies.
- Random unsolicited messages blocked by the operator
- The political campaign not permitted by the operator
- The same message sent to the same phone number repeatedly over a short time
- Absent phone number. The phone number might have been recycled after a period of no activity
- Low or no network coverage
- Battery too low to process an incoming message
EXPIREDThe SMSC was unable to deliver the message in a specified amount of time. This is called Message Validity and it is usually 48 hours.
In some instances (especially when the operator is under traffic pressure), the operator might expire some messages instantly once it cannot be delivered as at first attempt.
It can also mean that the cell phone was switched off as at the time of delivery.
REJECTDThe message was rejected.
- Subscriber is on the Do-Not-Disturb list
- The provider could have blocked phone numbers in this range.
- Message flagged as SPAM (Mass unsolicited messages)
- Message flagged as SCAM (Messages with potential intent to defraud, defame or threatens social security)
- Faulty or ongoing upgrade on the base station covering the range of the phone number
DELETEDMessage was deleted
UNSUPPORTEDDelivery report is not supported by the route or the operator

Note: Sometimes you might get false positives (i.e. DELIVERED status but no message on the phone when the inbox is full or due to portability issues)