Since I received my new iPhone 3G, I’ve been wondering why Apple didn’t add an option for text message delivery reports to the iPhone 3G software (SMS delivery reports). Sometimes when you send a text message you just want to know that its been delivered properly! I used to have delivery receipts turned on permanently on my Nokias and was disappointed when I found I couldn’t turn on delivery reports with my first iPhone (running on vodafone).

Now that I have switched to O2 I’ve discovered that there is a way to get delivery reports for individual text messages! Although this isn’t the blanket solution (built in option) that I’d hoped for it is still useful when you want to confirm that someone has received your text message.

To request an SMS delivery report in the UK (O2) simply add *0# to the beginning of the text message and continue the message as normal. When the SMS is received a delivery report (delivery receipt) will appear as another iChat bubble on your iPhone; below your original message (you get a text message back).

SMS delivery report codes are different for each mobile network and each country. Some mobile networks do not offer SMS delivery report codes. These codes will work on other phones as well as iPhones. Here are some codes for other networks. You need to type the code before your text message, and its probably best to leave a space as some providers require this. They are also case sensitive:

UK Mobile Networks
O2 prefix *0#
Orange *0#
T Mobile prefix *0#
Virgin prefix *0#
Vodafone (unconfirmed) – *NOT#
Tesco Mobile *0#
Channel Islands; Jersey Telecom *0#

US and Australia Cell Networks
US T–Mobile prefix *noti#
Australia Three *not#
Australia Vodafone – No code exists

European Mobile Networks
Belgium Base prefix *N#
Belgium Proximus prefix *R*
Czechoslovakia o2 prefix YYYY
Denmark prefix *0#
Denmark Bibob prefix *KV#
Denmark Three prefix *NM#
Estonia Tele2 prefix *T#
Estonia Elisa prefix -K-
Estonia EMT prefix *0#
Finland Sonera prefix *0#
Germany T-Mobile *T#
Germany Vodafone D2 prefix *N#
Germany O2 prefix *N#
Germany e-plus prefix *N#
Greece Vodafone GR prefix *#
Greece Wind prefix *0#
Greece Cosmote *0#
Holland T-mobile prefix NM#
Hungary T-mobile prefix **0#
Ireland O2 prefix *R*
Ireland meteor prefix *R*
Italy Wind prefix *n#
Luxembourg Tango prefix *0#
Norway Telenor *k#
Poland PlusGSM prefix XYZ
Portugal Vodafone prefix *NOT#
Romania Orange prefix *NOT# or *NM#
Slovakia Orange prefix *?#
Spain Movistar prefix *N#
Spain Yoigo prefix *N#
Sweden Telia prefix *KV#
Sweden Comviq prefix KV#
Sweden Telenor prefix ##
Sweden 3 prefix *kv#
Sweden Tele2 prefix kv#
Switzerland Sunrise prefix #*#
Switzerland Swisscom prefix *NOT#

Other Mobile Networks
Vodacom / Mtn prefix  rrr
Singapore SINGTEL prefix #R#
Brasil Oi prefix *N#
Brasil Clario prefix *N#
Israel Orange prefix NM#
India Vodafone prefix *NOT#
Qatar Qtel prefix *N#
Maxis Malaysia *N#
Egypt vodafone prefix *VF#
Egypt Mobinil prefix *NM#
India Ideal prefix YYYY
India Vodafone prefix *NOT# or *N#
Lebanon MTC Touch prefix *N#
Angola Unitel prefix *N#
Algeria Djezzy prefix *N#
Indonesia telkomsel prefix *N#
Indonesia Satelindo prefix R#
Serbia Telenor prefix *!#
Serbia MTS prefix *!#
Croatia T-Mobile prefix *r* or *r#
Croatia Tele 2 prefix *R*
Croatia VIP prefix !
Turkey Turkcell prefix *N#
Bangladesh Grameenphone prefix YYYY
UAE prefix *N#
Greenland (Tele Greenland) prefix *!#
Bangadesh banglalink prefix *n#

If you have other codes, please post them in the comments and I will add them. Thanks!

Procuring an iPhone 3G on launch day is absolutely as hard as you might imagine. It’s been a rollercoaster of a week, an experiment to see what people will go through to get their technology fix. I was lucky, but many weren’t.

“ Monday July 7th, 8am. New email; O2 now accepting preorders. 8:34am my order is placed, I have a confirmation email. iPhone 3G will be delivered on Friday before 10am.” …was that too easy?…..

Monday

O2’s website worked flawlessly when I used it, but for many it just collapsed. Users were left wondering whether their order had gone through, and were pulling their hair out. By the afternoon the website was closed to pre-orders. iPhone 3G sold out.

Tuesday & Wednesday
Tuesday and Wednesday saw fever pitch speculation over on the O2 forums. Many users had orders in-progress, some [seemingly] failed orders were suddenly appearing, and others were having orders randomly cancelled. We weren’t happy lambs.

The mood was lifted when orders started to change from “in-progress“ to “complete”. I had a sudden addiction to the O2’s order status page and the refresh button.

Thursday
By Thursday we were flapping, many orders were still “in-progress”. Speculation was growing. Why hadn’t our order status changed? did O2 actually have enough stock to fulfill it’s preorders?

I spoke to O2 customer services on three separate occasions during the week and their staff were always polite and helpful. They reassured me the iPhone would arrive on launch day and I wouldn’t be disappointed.

By 5pm on Thursday it was clear it wasn’t going to happen. A final call to O2 confirmed it; they couldn’t fulfill my order and weren’t sure when they would be able to. Their website was talking about availability “by the end of the summer”.

Carphone Warehouse To The Rescue: At 5:15pm I phoned Carphone warehouse and explained my plight. It was a long shot. Their reply? “No Problem”, they would have an iPhone 3G delivered tomorrow …… and do you know what?…… They weren’t joking. I placed an order at 5:15pm on Thursday and received it at 8:30am Friday.

Thoughts
It’s been a difficult week for O2. Nobody is entirely clear how many preorders they took, but there were a lot. Many have criticised O2 for raising expectations and dashing them. It was always going to be hard for O2 to cope, but IMHO their order system should have been capped. They should only have accepted pre-orders for phones they could deliver. But could anyone really have coped with the insatiable demand? probably not.

“Was the iPhone 3G worth it?” don’t ask silly questions!

UPDATE: I’m disappointed to hear that my Carphone Warehouse order may have been fulfilled at the expense of other CPW users who ordered on Monday! in the same way that my 8:30am order with O2 on Monday was passed over for later orders placed at 1PM. Come on guys its not that difficult!

This coming week sees the Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, and the most eagerly anticipated announcement has to be the new iPhone (the iPhone 2.0).

According to MacRumors the second generation iPhone is expected to adopt 3G for faster internet access, along with a number of ground breaking features. These could include a forward facing camera for video calls and a GPS receiver for satellite navigation. As always there has been much speculation as to the design of the new iPhone, with a number of ‘leaked’ photos circulating the Internet.
With the actual launch expected to be sometime in late June or July in the US, UK users are left wondering about possible launch dates in the UK and whether it will be long after the US launch. Many have speculated that it’s likely to be soon after the US because of its predecessors popularity.

On a personal level the first iPhone has been such an amazing buy (despite the critics views) that I can’t wait to get my hands on the iPhone 2.0. I may even consider switching to O2 and signing up on a contract (I currently use an unlocked iPhone on Vodafone). My only gripe is the duration of the existing O2 contracts, which appear to be around 18 months (far too long). Either way it seems extremely unlikely that second iPhone will be made available on any other network, at least to being with.