Helping you know when an important text message has arrived
SMS Delivery Reports are available to Telstra mobile customers with a compatible handset. It is a notification sent to your mobile that lets you know when your text message (to Australian mobile numbers) has been delivered to the recipient’s mobile (where available, or otherwise to the recipient’s mobile network).
SMS Delivery Reports are optional and charged at 5c per report when active (GST incl.).
Note that if your text message is longer than 160 characters, you may be charged for more than one SMS Delivery Report. For more details, view our FAQs.
Some customers may already be receiving SMS Delivery Reports. For information on how to turn this feature off, please see the deactivate instructions below.
An SMS may not arrive straight away for the following reasons:
- Recipient’s mobile is turned off
- Recipient’s mobile phone is out of range
- Recipient’s text message inbox is full and can't store any more until deleted
- Delivery Reports do not inform the sender when the recipient has read their message. The service is designed to give the sender the peace of mind that their important message has been successfully delivered to the recipient’s mobile phone or their network (depending on mobile carrier).
When to use SMS delivery reports
There are many reasons why receiving a Delivery Report might be useful, particularly when you’re sending that important message and you’d like to know when it arrives.
- Work: “I need to get onto Jim to let him know about the sales figures. He is on the road to one of our country stores and is out of mobile phone range. If I select to receive a Delivery Report, I’ll know when he’s back in coverage and the message is delivered and he can get the good news!”
- Family: “I’m going to be late to meet my husband and the kids for dinner. They are in a movie and my husband’s mobile is turned off. I’ll send a message to him, knowing that I will get a report when it is turned on and the message delivered.¹”
- Friends: “My friend never has credit on her pre-paid phone, but I want to be sure that she has received my message about Kate’s surprise party so I choose to receive an SMS Delivery Report.”
How to activate or deactivate SMS delivery reports
You control whether you want to receive SMS Delivery Reports through your mobile phone menu.
For most mobile phones, you can find the Delivery Reports option in your message settings. The exact path depends on the handset, but a common way of arriving at the Delivery Report option would be as follows:
- enter your main menu
- Select “Messages”
- Select “Settings”
- Select “Delivery Report”
- Choose “On” or “Off”
Or sometimes it can be within the settings when you write a new message:
- Start a new message
- Select “Options”
- Turn “Delivery Report” on or off
Most handsets support SMS Delivery Reports, although you may find with certain handsets they call it different things, such as “Delivery Receipt”, “Delivery Report” or “Status Report”.
Below are a list of popular mobiles and the steps to follow in the menu to find the SMS Delivery Reports option.
LG TU500
Main Menu → Messages → Settings → Text Message → Delivery Receipt
(Applies to all messages)
Motorola V3x
Main menu → Messages → Create Message → Options → Sending Options → Delivery Report
(Applies only for this message)
Motorola V3
Main menu → Messages → New Message → New Short Message → Message (insert message) → Send to (insert details) → Receipt (Yes/no)
(Applies only for this message)
Motorola Maxx V6
Main menu → Messages → Create Message → New Message → Options → Sending Options → Delivery Report
(Applies only for this message)
Nokia N70
Main Menu → Messages → Options → Settings → Text Message → "Receive Report"
(Applies to all messages)
Nokia 1100, 3315
Main Menu → Messages → Message Settings → Common → Delivery Reports
(Applies to all messages)
Nokia 6120, 6230, 6230i, 6610i
Main Menu → Messages → Message Settings → Text messages → Sending Profile → Delivery Reports
(Applies to all messages)
Nokia 9300i
Main Communicator Menu → Tools → Control panel → Messaging → Text message → Delivery report → Yes/No
(Applies to all messages)
Samsung A701
Main Menu → Messages → Settings → Text Message → Sending Settings → Delivery Report
(Applies to all messages)
Samsung Z510
Main Menu → Messages → Settings → Text Message → Sending Options → Delivery Report
(Applies to all messages)
Telstra 850, Telstra 851
Main Menu → Messages → Settings → Text Msg. Settings → Status Report
(Applies to all messages)
Samsung SCH-A561
Main Menu → Messages → MSG Setting → New Message → Delivery Ack → No/Yes
(Applies to all messages)
Things you need to know
- In some cases, depending on the other party's network, you may receive an SMS Delivery Report when your text message has been successfully delivered to the recipient's network, rather than to their mobile. In such a case, you will receive an SMS Delivery Report even if the other party's mobile is turned off. This does not apply where the other party has a Telstra mobile.
